Land-cover mapping of Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area and Coyote Springs, Piute-Eldorado Valley, and Mormon Mesa Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, Clark County, Nevada

USGS Publications Warehouse

Smith, J. LaRue; Damar, Nancy A.; Charlet, David A.; Westenburg, Craig L.

2014-01-01

DigitalGlobe’s QuickBird satellite high-resolution multispectral imagery was classified by using Visual Learning Systems’ Feature Analyst feature extraction software to produce land-cover data sets for the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area and the Coyote Springs, Piute-Eldorado Valley, and Mormon Mesa Areas of Critical Environmental Concern in Clark County, Nevada. Over 1,000 vegetation field samples were collected at the stand level. The field samples were classified to the National Vegetation Classification Standard, Version 2 hierarchy at the alliance level and above. Feature extraction models were developed for vegetation on the basis of the spectral and spatial characteristics of selected field samples by using the Feature Analyst hierarchical learning process. Individual model results were merged to create one data set for the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area and one for each of the Areas of Critical Environmental Concern. Field sample points and photographs were used to validate and update the data set after model results were merged. Non-vegetation data layers, such as roads and disturbed areas, were delineated from the imagery and added to the final data sets. The resulting land-cover data sets are significantly more detailed than previously were available, both in resolution and in vegetation classes.

Prioritizing Populations for Conservation Using Phylogenetic Networks

PubMed Central

Volkmann, Logan; Martyn, Iain; Moulton, Vincent; Spillner, Andreas; Mooers, Arne O.

2014-01-01

In the face of inevitable future losses to biodiversity, ranking species by conservation priority seems more than prudent. Setting conservation priorities within species (i.e., at the population level) may be critical as species ranges become fragmented and connectivity declines. However, existing approaches to prioritization (e.g., scoring organisms by their expected genetic contribution) are based on phylogenetic trees, which may be poor representations of differentiation below the species level. In this paper we extend evolutionary isolation indices used in conservation planning from phylogenetic trees to phylogenetic networks. Such networks better represent population differentiation, and our extension allows populations to be ranked in order of their expected contribution to the set. We illustrate the approach using data from two imperiled species: the spotted owl Strix occidentalis in North America and the mountain pygmy-possum Burramys parvus in Australia. Using previously published mitochondrial and microsatellite data, we construct phylogenetic networks and score each population by its relative genetic distinctiveness. In both cases, our phylogenetic networks capture the geographic structure of each species: geographically peripheral populations harbor less-redundant genetic information, increasing their conservation rankings. We note that our approach can be used with all conservation-relevant distances (e.g., those based on whole-genome, ecological, or adaptive variation) and suggest it be added to the assortment of tools available to wildlife managers for allocating effort among threatened populations. PMID:24586451

Identifying all moiety conservation laws in genome-scale metabolic networks.

PubMed

De Martino, Andrea; De Martino, Daniele; Mulet, Roberto; Pagnani, Andrea

2014-01-01

The stoichiometry of a metabolic network gives rise to a set of conservation laws for the aggregate level of specific pools of metabolites, which, on one hand, pose dynamical constraints that cross-link the variations of metabolite concentrations and, on the other, provide key insight into a cell's metabolic production capabilities. When the conserved quantity identifies with a chemical moiety, extracting all such conservation laws from the stoichiometry amounts to finding all non-negative integer solutions of a linear system, a programming problem known to be NP-hard. We present an efficient strategy to compute the complete set of integer conservation laws of a genome-scale stoichiometric matrix, also providing a certificate for correctness and maximality of the solution. Our method is deployed for the analysis of moiety conservation relationships in two large-scale reconstructions of the metabolism of the bacterium E. coli, in six tissue-specific human metabolic networks, and, finally, in the human reactome as a whole, revealing that bacterial metabolism could be evolutionarily designed to cover broader production spectra than human metabolism. Convergence to the full set of moiety conservation laws in each case is achieved in extremely reduced computing times. In addition, we uncover a scaling relation that links the size of the independent pool basis to the number of metabolites, for which we present an analytical explanation.

Multi-objective optimization in systematic conservation planning and the representation of genetic variability among populations.

PubMed

Schlottfeldt, S; Walter, M E M T; Carvalho, A C P L F; Soares, T N; Telles, M P C; Loyola, R D; Diniz-Filho, J A F

2015-06-18

Biodiversity crises have led scientists to develop strategies for achieving conservation goals. The underlying principle of these strategies lies in systematic conservation planning (SCP), in which there are at least 2 conflicting objectives, making it a good candidate for multi-objective optimization. Although SCP is typically applied at the species level (or hierarchically higher), it can be used at lower hierarchical levels, such as using alleles as basic units for analysis, for conservation genetics. Here, we propose a method of SCP using a multi-objective approach. We used non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II in order to identify the smallest set of local populations of Dipteryx alata (baru) (a Brazilian Cerrado species) for conservation, representing the known genetic diversity and using allele frequency information associated with heterozygosity and Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. We worked in 3 variations for the problem. First, we reproduced a previous experiment, but using a multi-objective approach. We found that the smallest set of populations needed to represent all alleles under study was 7, corroborating the results of the previous study, but with more distinct solutions. In the 2nd and 3rd variations, we performed simultaneous optimization of 4 and 5 objectives, respectively. We found similar but refined results for 7 populations, and a larger portfolio considering intra-specific diversity and persistence with populations ranging from 8-22. This is the first study to apply multi-objective algorithms to an SCP problem using alleles at the population level as basic units for analysis.

Numerical Schemes for the Hamilton-Jacobi and Level Set Equations on Triangulated Domains

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barth, Timothy J.; Sethian, James A.

2006-01-01

Borrowing from techniques developed for conservation law equations, we have developed both monotone and higher order accurate numerical schemes which discretize the Hamilton-Jacobi and level set equations on triangulated domains. The use of unstructured meshes containing triangles (2D) and tetrahedra (3D) easily accommodates mesh adaptation to resolve disparate level set feature scales with a minimal number of solution unknowns. The minisymposium talk will discuss these algorithmic developments and present sample calculations using our adaptive triangulation algorithm applied to various moving interface problems such as etching, deposition, and curvature flow.

Scale separation for multi-scale modeling of free-surface and two-phase flows with the conservative sharp interface method

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Han, L.H., E-mail: Luhui.Han@tum.de; Hu, X.Y., E-mail: Xiangyu.Hu@tum.de; Adams, N.A., E-mail: Nikolaus.Adams@tum.de

In this paper we present a scale separation approach for multi-scale modeling of free-surface and two-phase flows with complex interface evolution. By performing a stimulus-response operation on the level-set function representing the interface, separation of resolvable and non-resolvable interface scales is achieved efficiently. Uniform positive and negative shifts of the level-set function are used to determine non-resolvable interface structures. Non-resolved interface structures are separated from the resolved ones and can be treated by a mixing model or a Lagrangian-particle model in order to preserve mass. Resolved interface structures are treated by the conservative sharp-interface model. Since the proposed scale separationmore » approach does not rely on topological information, unlike in previous work, it can be implemented in a straightforward fashion into a given level set based interface model. A number of two- and three-dimensional numerical tests demonstrate that the proposed method is able to cope with complex interface variations accurately and significantly increases robustness against underresolved interface structures.« less

Identification and classification of structural soil conservation measures based on very high resolution stereo satellite data.

PubMed

Eckert, Sandra; Tesfay Ghebremicael, Selamawit; Hurni, Hans; Kohler, Thomas

2017-05-15

Land degradation affects large areas of land around the globe, with grave consequences for those living off the land. Major efforts are being made to implement soil and water conservation measures that counteract soil erosion and help secure vital ecosystem services. However, where and to what extent such measures have been implemented is often not well documented. Knowledge about this could help to identify areas where soil and water conservation measures are successfully supporting sustainable land management, as well as areas requiring urgent rehabilitation of conservation structures such as terraces and bunds. This study explores the potential of the latest satellite-based remote sensing technology for use in assessing and monitoring the extent of existing soil and water conservation structures. We used a set of very high resolution stereo Geoeye-1 satellite data, from which we derived a detailed digital surface model as well as a set of other spectral, terrain, texture, and filtered information layers. We developed and applied an object-based classification approach, working on two segmentation levels. On the coarser level, the aim was to delimit certain landscape zones. Information about these landscape zones is useful in distinguishing different types of soil and water conservation structures, as each zone contains certain specific types of structures. On the finer level, the goal was to extract and identify different types of linear soil and water conservation structures. The classification rules were based mainly on spectral, textural, shape, and topographic properties, and included object relationships. This approach enabled us to identify and separate from other classes the majority (78.5%) of terraces and bunds, as well as most hillside terraces (81.25%). Omission and commission errors are similar to those obtained by the few existing studies focusing on the same research objective but using different types of remotely sensed data. Based on our results, we estimate that the construction of the conservation structures in our study area in Eritrea required over 300,000 person-days of work, which underlines the huge efforts involved in soil and water conservation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Agreed but not preferred: expert views on taboo options for biodiversity conservation, given climate change.

PubMed

Hagerman, Shannon M; Satterfield, Terre

2014-04-01

Recent research indicates increasing openness among conservation experts toward a set of previously controversial proposals for biodiversity protection. These include actions such as assisted migration, and the application of climate-change-informed triage principles for decision-making (e.g., forgoing attention to target species deemed no longer viable). Little is known however, about the levels of expert agreement across different conservation adaptation actions, or the preferences that may come to shape policy recommendations. In this paper, we report findings from a web-based survey of biodiversity experts that assessed: (1) perceived risks of climate change (and other drivers) to biodiversity, (2) relative importance of different conservation goals, (3) levels of agreement/disagreement with the potential necessity of unconventional-taboo actions and approaches including affective evaluations of these, (4) preferences regarding the most important adaptation action for biodiversity, and (5) perceived barriers and strategic considerations regarding implementing adaptation initiatives. We found widespread agreement with a set of previously contentious approaches and actions, including the need for frameworks for prioritization and decision-making that take expected losses and emerging novel ecosystems into consideration. Simultaneously, this survey found enduring preferences for conventional actions (such as protected areas) as the most important policy action, and negative affective responses toward more interventionist proposals. We argue that expert views are converging on agreement across a set of taboo components in ways that differ from earlier published positions, and that these views are tempered by preferences for existing conventional actions and discomfort toward interventionist options. We discuss these findings in the context of anticipating some of the likely contours of future conservation debates. Lastly, we underscore the critical need for interdisciplinary, comparative, place-based adaptation research.

Extraction and Measurement of Multi-Level Parallelism in Productions Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-12-14

the conflict set (agenda): (RULE.A (RULEB ( MATCHA ) (MATCHB) (ACTA)) (ACTB)) where the MATCH predicates are sets of rules in working memory and the act...ACTAfnMATCHB = 0 ) A ( MATCHA n ACTB = 0 )). The non-interference criteria above is conservative and may not detect all possible paral- lelism, but more

A methodological approach to identify agro-biodiversity hotspots for priority in situ conservation of plant genetic resources

PubMed Central

Pacicco, Luca; Bodesmo, Mara; Torricelli, Renzo

2018-01-01

Agro-biodiversity is seriously threatened worldwide and strategies to preserve it are dramatically required. We propose here a methodological approach aimed to identify areas with a high level of agro-biodiversity in which to set or enhance in situ conservation of plant genetic resources. These areas are identified using three criteria: Presence of Landrace diversity, Presence of wild species and Agro-ecosystem ecological diversity. A Restrictive and an Additive prioritization strategy has been applied on the entire Italian territory and has resulted in establishing nationwide 53 and 197 agro-biodiversity hotspots respectively. At present the strategies can easily be applied at a European level and can be helpful to develop conservation strategies everywhere. PMID:29856765

Effects of preference heterogeneity among landowners on spatial conservation prioritization.

PubMed

Nielsen, Anne Sofie Elberg; Strange, Niels; Bruun, Hans Henrik; Jacobsen, Jette Bredahl

2017-06-01

The participation of private landowners in conservation is crucial to efficient biodiversity conservation. This is especially the case in settings where the share of private ownership is large and the economic costs associated with land acquisition are high. We used probit regression analysis and historical participation data to examine the likelihood of participation of Danish forest owners in a voluntary conservation program. We used the results to spatially predict the likelihood of participation of all forest owners in Denmark. We merged spatial data on the presence of forest, cadastral information on participation contracts, and individual-level socioeconomic information about the forest owners and their households. We included predicted participation in a probability model for species survival. Uninformed and informed (included land owner characteristics) models were then incorporated into a spatial prioritization for conservation of unmanaged forests. The choice models are based on sociodemographic data on the entire population of Danish forest owners and historical data on their participation in conservation schemes. Inclusion in the model of information on private landowners' willingness to supply land for conservation yielded at intermediate budget levels up to 30% more expected species coverage than the uninformed prioritization scheme. Our landowner-choice model provides an example of moving toward more implementable conservation planning. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

Setting conservation priorities.

PubMed

Wilson, Kerrie A; Carwardine, Josie; Possingham, Hugh P

2009-04-01

A generic framework for setting conservation priorities based on the principles of classic decision theory is provided. This framework encapsulates the key elements of any problem, including the objective, the constraints, and knowledge of the system. Within the context of this framework the broad array of approaches for setting conservation priorities are reviewed. While some approaches prioritize assets or locations for conservation investment, it is concluded here that prioritization is incomplete without consideration of the conservation actions required to conserve the assets at particular locations. The challenges associated with prioritizing investments through time in the face of threats (and also spatially and temporally heterogeneous costs) can be aided by proper problem definition. Using the authors' general framework for setting conservation priorities, multiple criteria can be rationally integrated and where, how, and when to invest conservation resources can be scheduled. Trade-offs are unavoidable in priority setting when there are multiple considerations, and budgets are almost always finite. The authors discuss how trade-offs, risks, uncertainty, feedbacks, and learning can be explicitly evaluated within their generic framework for setting conservation priorities. Finally, they suggest ways that current priority-setting approaches may be improved.

Comparing volume of fluid and level set methods for evaporating liquid-gas flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Palmore, John; Desjardins, Olivier

2016-11-01

This presentation demonstrates three numerical strategies for simulating liquid-gas flows undergoing evaporation. The practical aim of this work is to choose a framework capable of simulating the combustion of liquid fuels in an internal combustion engine. Each framework is analyzed with respect to its accuracy and computational cost. All simulations are performed using a conservative, finite volume code for simulating reacting, multiphase flows under the low-Mach assumption. The strategies used in this study correspond to different methods for tracking the liquid-gas interface and handling the transport of the discontinuous momentum and vapor mass fractions fields. The first two strategies are based on conservative, geometric volume of fluid schemes using directionally split and un-split advection, respectively. The third strategy is the accurate conservative level set method. For all strategies, special attention is given to ensuring the consistency between the fluxes of mass, momentum, and vapor fractions. The study performs three-dimensional simulations of an isolated droplet of a single component fuel evaporating into air. Evaporation rates and vapor mass fractions are compared to analytical results.

Broader jurisdiction for the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Gulf Oil Corp. v. Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and Story Oil Impact Committee, 693 P. 2d 227 (Wyo. 1985)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wendtland, A.T.

1986-01-01

Analysis of the Gulf Oil Corp. v. Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and Story Oil Impact Committee case finds that the Wyoming Supreme Court has set an important precedent. The case stands for the premise that Wyoming may regulate the environmental effects of oil and gas development on lands outside of federal lease boundaries. The problem with this holding is that it was the wrong case in which to set that precedent. The Wyoming Oil and gas Conservation Act does not grant the Commission broad enough authority to regulate as they did, even if such regulation is not preemptedmore » at the federal level. While the court may have perceived a need to vest the Commission with this broad authority, it should leave such decisions to the state legislature or leave this type of regulation to the appropriate federal agency.« less

77 FR 4698 - Energy Conservation Program: Test Procedure and Energy Conservation Standard for Set-Top Boxes...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-01-31

... Conservation Program: Test Procedure and Energy Conservation Standard for Set-Top Boxes and Network Equipment... comments on the request for information pertaining to the development of test procedures and energy conservation standards for set-top boxes and network equipment. The comment period is extended to March 15...

Evidence, models, conservation programs and limits to management

USGS Publications Warehouse

Nichols, J.D.

2012-01-01

Walsh et al. (2012) emphasized the importance of obtaining evidence to assess the effects of management actions on state variables relevant to objectives of conservation programs. They focused on malleefowl Leipoa ocellata, ground-dwelling Australian megapodes listed as vulnerable. They noted that although fox Vulpes vulpes baiting is the main management action used in malleefowl conservation throughout southern Australia, evidence of the effectiveness of this action is limited and currently debated. Walsh et al. (2012) then used data from 64 sites monitored for malleefowl and foxes over 23 years to assess key functional relationships relevant to fox control as a conservation action for malleefowl. In one set of analyses, Walsh et al. (2012) focused on two relationships: fox baiting investment versus fox presence, and fox presence versus malleefowl population size and rate of population change. Results led to the counterintuitive conclusion that increases in investments in fox control produced slight decreases in malleefowl population size and growth. In a second set of analyses, Walsh et al. (2012) directly assessed the relationship between investment in fox baiting and malleefowl population size and rate of population change. This set of analyses showed no significant relationship between investment in fox population control and malleefowl population growth. Both sets of analyses benefited from the incorporation of key environmental covariates hypothesized to influence these management relationships. Walsh et al. (2012) concluded that "in most situations, malleefowl conservation did not effectively benefit from fox baiting at current levels of investment." In this commentary, I discuss the work of Walsh et al. (2012) using the conceptual framework of structured decision making (SDM). In doing so, I accept their analytic results and associated conclusions as accurate and discuss basic ideas about evidence, conservation and limits to management.

A Description of Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease Patients in a Major Urban Center Receiving Conservative Care

PubMed Central

Kamar, Fareed B.; Tam-Tham, Helen; Thomas, Chandra

2017-01-01

Background: Conservative/palliative (nondialysis) management is an option for some individuals for treatment of stage 5 chronic kidney disease (CKD). Little is known about these individuals treated with conservative care in the Canadian setting. Objective: To describe the characteristics of patients treated with conservative care for category G5 non-dialysis CKD in a Canadian context. Design: Retrospective chart review. Setting: Urban nephrology center. Patients: Patients with G5 non-dialysis CKD (estimated glomerular filtration rate <15 mL/min/1.73 m2). Measurements: Baseline patient demographic and clinical characteristics of conservative care follow-up, advanced care planning, and death. Methods: We undertook a descriptive analysis of individuals enrolled in a conservative care program between January 1, 2009, and June 30, 2015. Results: One hundred fifty-four patients were enrolled in the conservative care program. The mean age and standard deviation was 81.4 ± 9.0 years. The mean modified Charlson Comorbidity Index score was 3.4 ± 2.8. The median duration of conservative care participation was 11.5 months (interquartile range: 4-25). Six (3.9%) patients changed their modality to dialysis. One hundred three (66.9%) patients died during the study period. Within the deceased cohort, most (88.2%) patients completed at least some advanced care planning before death, and most (81.7%) of them died at their preferred place. Twenty-seven (26.7%) individuals died in hospital. Limitations: Single-center study with biases inherent to a retrospective study. Generalizability to non-Canadian settings may be limited. Conclusions: We found that individuals who chose conservative care were very old and did not have high levels of comorbidity. Few individuals who chose conservative care changed modality and accepted dialysis. The proportions of engagement in advanced care planning and of death in place of choice were high in this population. Death in hospital was uncommon in this population. PMID:28835848

Habitat Re-Creation (Ecological Restoration) as a Strategy for Conserving Insect Communities in Highly Fragmented Landscapes

PubMed Central

Shuey, John A.

2013-01-01

Because of their vast diversity, measured by both numbers of species as well as life history traits, insects defy comprehensive conservation planning. Thus, almost all insect conservation efforts target individual species. However, serious insect conservation requires goals that are set at the faunal level and conservation success requires strategies that conserve intact communities. This task is complicated in agricultural landscapes by high levels of habitat fragmentation and isolation. In many regions, once widespread insect communities are now functionally trapped on islands of ecosystem remnants and subject to a variety of stressors associated with isolation, small population sizes and artificial population fragmentation. In fragmented landscapes ecological restoration can be an effective strategy for reducing localized insect extinction rates, but insects are seldom included in restoration design criteria. It is possible to incorporate a few simple conservation criteria into restoration designs that enhance impacts to entire insect communities. Restoration can be used as a strategy to address fragmentation threats to isolated insect communities if insect communities are incorporated at the onset of restoration planning. Fully incorporating insect communities into restoration designs may increase the cost of restoration two- to three-fold, but the benefits to biodiversity conservation and the ecological services provided by intact insect communities justify the cost. PMID:26462535

Habitat Re-Creation (Ecological Restoration) as a Strategy for Conserving Insect Communities in Highly Fragmented Landscapes.

PubMed

Shuey, John A

2013-12-05

Because of their vast diversity, measured by both numbers of species as well as life history traits, insects defy comprehensive conservation planning. Thus, almost all insect conservation efforts target individual species. However, serious insect conservation requires goals that are set at the faunal level and conservation success requires strategies that conserve intact communities. This task is complicated in agricultural landscapes by high levels of habitat fragmentation and isolation. In many regions, once widespread insect communities are now functionally trapped on islands of ecosystem remnants and subject to a variety of stressors associated with isolation, small population sizes and artificial population fragmentation. In fragmented landscapes ecological restoration can be an effective strategy for reducing localized insect extinction rates, but insects are seldom included in restoration design criteria. It is possible to incorporate a few simple conservation criteria into restoration designs that enhance impacts to entire insect communities. Restoration can be used as a strategy to address fragmentation threats to isolated insect communities if insect communities are incorporated at the onset of restoration planning. Fully incorporating insect communities into restoration designs may increase the cost of restoration two- to three-fold, but the benefits to biodiversity conservation and the ecological services provided by intact insect communities justify the cost.

Biodiversity conservation in Swedish forests: ways forward for a 30-year-old multi-scaled approach.

PubMed

Gustafsson, Lena; Perhans, Karin

2010-12-01

A multi-scaled model for biodiversity conservation in forests was introduced in Sweden 30 years ago, which makes it a pioneer example of an integrated ecosystem approach. Trees are set aside for biodiversity purposes at multiple scale levels varying from individual trees to areas of thousands of hectares, with landowner responsibility at the lowest level and with increasing state involvement at higher levels. Ecological theory supports the multi-scaled approach, and retention efforts at every harvest occasion stimulate landowners' interest in conservation. We argue that the model has large advantages but that in a future with intensified forestry and global warming, development based on more progressive thinking is necessary to maintain and increase biodiversity. Suggestions for the future include joint planning for several forest owners, consideration of cost-effectiveness, accepting opportunistic work models, adjusting retention levels to stand and landscape composition, introduction of temporary reserves, creation of "receiver habitats" for species escaping climate change, and protection of young forests.

Effects of errors and gaps in spatial data sets on assessment of conservation progress.

PubMed

Visconti, P; Di Marco, M; Álvarez-Romero, J G; Januchowski-Hartley, S R; Pressey, R L; Weeks, R; Rondinini, C

2013-10-01

Data on the location and extent of protected areas, ecosystems, and species' distributions are essential for determining gaps in biodiversity protection and identifying future conservation priorities. However, these data sets always come with errors in the maps and associated metadata. Errors are often overlooked in conservation studies, despite their potential negative effects on the reported extent of protection of species and ecosystems. We used 3 case studies to illustrate the implications of 3 sources of errors in reporting progress toward conservation objectives: protected areas with unknown boundaries that are replaced by buffered centroids, propagation of multiple errors in spatial data, and incomplete protected-area data sets. As of 2010, the frequency of protected areas with unknown boundaries in the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) caused the estimated extent of protection of 37.1% of the terrestrial Neotropical mammals to be overestimated by an average 402.8% and of 62.6% of species to be underestimated by an average 10.9%. Estimated level of protection of the world's coral reefs was 25% higher when using recent finer-resolution data on coral reefs as opposed to globally available coarse-resolution data. Accounting for additional data sets not yet incorporated into WDPA contributed up to 6.7% of additional protection to marine ecosystems in the Philippines. We suggest ways for data providers to reduce the errors in spatial and ancillary data and ways for data users to mitigate the effects of these errors on biodiversity assessments. © 2013 Society for Conservation Biology.

Evaluation of waterfowl conservation under the North American Waterfowl Management Plan

USGS Publications Warehouse

Williams, B.K.; Koneff, M.D.; Stith, David A.

1999-01-01

In 1986, the North American Waterfowl Management Plan (Plan) was signed by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior and the Canadian Minister of the Environment, with a goal of restoring waterfowl populations to levels of the 1970s via habitat conservation. Central to the Plan is a set of ambitious continental population goals and habitat objectives to be met through broad-based public-private partnerships. Inadequate attention has been paid to evaluation of the Plan, despite the fact that Plan delivery can be enhanced via improved understanding of the effects of habitat conservation on waterfowl population dynamics. Several factors confound the effort to evaluate the Plan at regional and continental levels, including difficulties in accounting for national land-use policies. To date, evaluation has proceeded along 2 avenues of investigation: (1) the study of conservation actions at local-regional levels, and (2) statistical assessment of Plan assumptions. Among other things, results thus far indicate duck production from the U.S. Northern Great Plains has increased in recent years, and intensive treatments such as planted cover have had positive effects on local reproductive success. Many duck species currently exceed Plan population goals; however, population levels of some species, most notably northern pintail (Anas acuta), remain below expectations based on historic relationships with precipitation. Management implications include the need for ongoing and more carefully prioritized conservation efforts, broader partnerships, and improved understanding of the linkages between habitats and biological processes. Delivery of the Plan must involve collaboration among the Continental Evaluation Team, joint Venture partners, the Adaptive Management and Assessment Team of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and other conservation groups. Although the challenges and projected costs of Plan conservation efforts are considerable, the long-term potential benefits to waterfowl conservation are great.

Divergent and convergent modes of interaction between wheat and Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici isolates revealed by the comparative gene co-expression network and genome analyses.

PubMed

Rutter, William B; Salcedo, Andres; Akhunova, Alina; He, Fei; Wang, Shichen; Liang, Hanquan; Bowden, Robert L; Akhunov, Eduard

2017-04-12

Two opposing evolutionary constraints exert pressure on plant pathogens: one to diversify virulence factors in order to evade plant defenses, and the other to retain virulence factors critical for maintaining a compatible interaction with the plant host. To better understand how the diversified arsenals of fungal genes promote interaction with the same compatible wheat line, we performed a comparative genomic analysis of two North American isolates of Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt). The patterns of inter-isolate divergence in the secreted candidate effector genes were compared with the levels of conservation and divergence of plant-pathogen gene co-expression networks (GCN) developed for each isolate. Comprative genomic analyses revealed substantial level of interisolate divergence in effector gene complement and sequence divergence. Gene Ontology (GO) analyses of the conserved and unique parts of the isolate-specific GCNs identified a number of conserved host pathways targeted by both isolates. Interestingly, the degree of inter-isolate sub-network conservation varied widely for the different host pathways and was positively associated with the proportion of conserved effector candidates associated with each sub-network. While different Pgt isolates tended to exploit similar wheat pathways for infection, the mode of plant-pathogen interaction varied for different pathways with some pathways being associated with the conserved set of effectors and others being linked with the diverged or isolate-specific effectors. Our data suggest that at the intra-species level pathogen populations likely maintain divergent sets of effectors capable of targeting the same plant host pathways. This functional redundancy may play an important role in the dynamic of the "arms-race" between host and pathogen serving as the basis for diverse virulence strategies and creating conditions where mutations in certain effector groups will not have a major effect on the pathogen's ability to infect the host.

The context and development of a global framework for plant conservation.

PubMed

Jackson, Peter Wyse; Sharrock, Suzanne

2011-01-01

A new international initiative for plant conservation was first called for as a resolution of the International Botanical Congress in 1999. The natural home for such an initiative was considered to be the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the CBD agreed to consider a Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) at its 5th meeting in 2000. It was proposed that the GSPC could provide an innovative model approach for target setting within the CBD and, prior to COP5, a series of inter-sessional papers on proposed targets and their justification were developed by plant conservation experts. Key factors that ensured the adoption of the GSPC by the CBD in 2002 included: (1) ensuring that prior to and during COP5, key Parties in each region were supportive of the Strategy; (2) setting targets at the global level and not attempting to impose these nationally; and (3) the offer by Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) to support a GSPC position in the CBD Secretariat for 3 years, which provided a clear indication of the support for the GSPC from non-governmental organizations (NGO).

Constraints on genes shape long-term conservation of macro-synteny in metazoan genomes.

PubMed

Lv, Jie; Havlak, Paul; Putnam, Nicholas H

2011-10-05

Many metazoan genomes conserve chromosome-scale gene linkage relationships ("macro-synteny") from the common ancestor of multicellular animal life 1234, but the biological explanation for this conservation is still unknown. Double cut and join (DCJ) is a simple, well-studied model of neutral genome evolution amenable to both simulation and mathematical analysis 5, but as we show here, it is not sufficent to explain long-term macro-synteny conservation. We examine a family of simple (one-parameter) extensions of DCJ to identify models and choices of parameters consistent with the levels of macro- and micro-synteny conservation observed among animal genomes. Our software implements a flexible strategy for incorporating genomic context into the DCJ model to incorporate various types of genomic context ("DCJ-[C]"), and is available as open source software from http://github.com/putnamlab/dcj-c. A simple model of genome evolution, in which DCJ moves are allowed only if they maintain chromosomal linkage among a set of constrained genes, can simultaneously account for the level of macro-synteny conservation and for correlated conservation among multiple pairs of species. Simulations under this model indicate that a constraint on approximately 7% of metazoan genes is sufficient to constrain genome rearrangement to an average rate of 25 inversions and 1.7 translocations per million years.

Building on IUCN regional red lists to produce lists of species of conservation priority: a model with Irish bees.

PubMed

Fitzpatrick, Una; Murray, Tomás E; Paxton, Robert J; Brown, Mark J F

2007-10-01

A World Conservation Union (IUCN) regional red list is an objective assessment of regional extinction risk and is not the same as a list of conservation priority species. Recent research reveals the widespread, but incorrect, assumption that IUCN Red List categories represent a hierarchical list of priorities for conservation action. We developed a simple eight-step priority-setting process and applied it to the conservation of bees in Ireland. Our model is based on the national red list but also considers the global significance of the national population; the conservation status at global, continental, and regional levels; key biological, economic, and societal factors; and is compatible with existing conservation agreements and legislation. Throughout Ireland, almost one-third of the bee fauna is threatened (30 of 100 species), but our methodology resulted in a reduced list of only 17 priority species. We did not use the priority species list to broadly categorize species to the conservation action required; instead, we indicated the individual action required for all threatened, near-threatened, and data-deficient species on the national red list based on the IUCN's conservation-actions template file. Priority species lists will strongly influence prioritization of conservation actions at national levels, but action should not be exclusive to listed species. In addition, all species on this list will not necessarily require immediate action. Our method is transparent, reproducible, and readily applicable to other taxa and regions.

78 FR 14717 - Energy Conservation Standards for Set-Top Boxes: Availability of Initial Analysis

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-07

.... Despite the participants' best efforts to negotiate a non- regulatory agreement, these talks ultimately... consumption of baseline products in on and sleep modes of operation by system level components (e.g., tuners...

Experiential benefits, place meanings, and environmental setting preferences between proximate and distant visitors to a national scenic trail.

PubMed

Kil, Namyun; Holland, Stephen M; Stein, Taylor V

2015-05-01

Effective management of conserved natural areas often requires a good understanding of recreation visitors who possess various values for those areas. This study examined differences in experiential benefits sought, place meanings, and environmental setting preferences between proximate and distant visitors to a publicly managed national scenic trail, which transects a variety of conserved public lands. Data were collected using on-site post-hike interviews with visitors at low, moderate, and high use trailheads. Proximate visitors sought mental and physical health more strongly than distant visitors, while distant visitors sought environmental exploration more strongly than proximate visitors. No significant difference in family bonding and achievement benefits existed between the two groups. Meanings related to place dependence, family identity, community identity, and place identity were more strongly ascribed by proximate visitors, and both groups rated ecological integrity meanings highly. Distant visitors showed stronger tendencies toward preferring a lesser level of trail development, lower level of encounters with other groups, and higher level of natural landscapes, which indicated an inclination toward natural settings. These findings indicate a managerially relevant role of the degree of proximity to environmental resources on individuals' recreation behaviors, meanings ascribed to the resources and setting conditions. Understanding differences and similarities between groups dichotomized by proximity to natural resources should advance more effective management of recreation and benefit opportunities for diverse visitor groups.

Experiential Benefits, Place Meanings, and Environmental Setting Preferences Between Proximate and Distant Visitors to a National Scenic Trail

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kil, Namyun; Holland, Stephen M.; Stein, Taylor V.

2015-05-01

Effective management of conserved natural areas often requires a good understanding of recreation visitors who possess various values for those areas. This study examined differences in experiential benefits sought, place meanings, and environmental setting preferences between proximate and distant visitors to a publicly managed national scenic trail, which transects a variety of conserved public lands. Data were collected using on-site post-hike interviews with visitors at low, moderate, and high use trailheads. Proximate visitors sought mental and physical health more strongly than distant visitors, while distant visitors sought environmental exploration more strongly than proximate visitors. No significant difference in family bonding and achievement benefits existed between the two groups. Meanings related to place dependence, family identity, community identity, and place identity were more strongly ascribed by proximate visitors, and both groups rated ecological integrity meanings highly. Distant visitors showed stronger tendencies toward preferring a lesser level of trail development, lower level of encounters with other groups, and higher level of natural landscapes, which indicated an inclination toward natural settings. These findings indicate a managerially relevant role of the degree of proximity to environmental resources on individuals' recreation behaviors, meanings ascribed to the resources and setting conditions. Understanding differences and similarities between groups dichotomized by proximity to natural resources should advance more effective management of recreation and benefit opportunities for diverse visitor groups.

A United States national prioritization framework for tree species vulnerability to climate change

Treesearch

Kevin M. Potter; Barbara S. Crane; William W. Hargrove

2017-01-01

Climate change is one of several threats that will increase the likelihood that forest tree species could experience population-level extirpation or species-level extinction. Scientists and managers from throughout the United States Forest Service have cooperated to develop a framework for conservation priority-setting assessments of forest tree species. This framework...

Superior Control of HIV-1 Replication by CD8+ T Cells Targeting Conserved Epitopes: Implications for HIV Vaccine Design

PubMed Central

Kunwar, Pratima; Hawkins, Natalie; Dinges, Warren L.; Liu, Yi; Gabriel, Erin E.; Swan, David A.; Stevens, Claire E.; Maenza, Janine; Collier, Ann C.; Mullins, James I.; Hertz, Tomer; Yu, Xuesong; Horton, Helen

2013-01-01

A successful HIV vaccine will likely induce both humoral and cell-mediated immunity, however, the enormous diversity of HIV has hampered the development of a vaccine that effectively elicits both arms of the adaptive immune response. To tackle the problem of viral diversity, T cell-based vaccine approaches have focused on two main strategies (i) increasing the breadth of vaccine-induced responses or (ii) increasing vaccine-induced responses targeting only conserved regions of the virus. The relative extent to which set-point viremia is impacted by epitope-conservation of CD8+ T cell responses elicited during early HIV-infection is unknown but has important implications for vaccine design. To address this question, we comprehensively mapped HIV-1 CD8+ T cell epitope-specificities in 23 ART-naïve individuals during early infection and computed their conservation score (CS) by three different methods (prevalence, entropy and conseq) on clade-B and group-M sequence alignments. The majority of CD8+ T cell responses were directed against variable epitopes (p<0.01). Interestingly, increasing breadth of CD8+ T cell responses specifically recognizing conserved epitopes was associated with lower set-point viremia (r = - 0.65, p = 0.009). Moreover, subjects possessing CD8+ T cells recognizing at least one conserved epitope had 1.4 log10 lower set-point viremia compared to those recognizing only variable epitopes (p = 0.021). The association between viral control and the breadth of conserved CD8+ T cell responses may be influenced by the method of CS definition and sequences used to determine conservation levels. Strikingly, targeting variable versus conserved epitopes was independent of HLA type (p = 0.215). The associations with viral control were independent of functional avidity of CD8+ T cell responses elicited during early infection. Taken together, these data suggest that the next-generation of T-cell based HIV-1 vaccines should focus on strategies that can elicit CD8+ T cell responses to multiple conserved epitopes of HIV-1. PMID:23741326

Biodiversity Mapping via Natura 2000 Conservation Status and Ebv Assessment Using Airborne Laser Scanning in Alkali Grasslands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zlinszky, A.; Deák, B.; Kania, A.; Schroiff, A.; Pfeifer, N.

2016-06-01

Biodiversity is an ecological concept, which essentially involves a complex sum of several indicators. One widely accepted such set of indicators is prescribed for habitat conservation status assessment within Natura 2000, a continental-scale conservation programme of the European Union. Essential Biodiversity Variables are a set of indicators designed to be relevant for biodiversity and suitable for global-scale operational monitoring. Here we revisit a study of Natura 2000 conservation status mapping via airbone LIDAR that develops individual remote sensing-derived proxies for every parameter required by the Natura 2000 manual, from the perspective of developing regional-scale Essential Biodiversity Variables. Based on leaf-on and leaf-off point clouds (10 pt/m2) collected in an alkali grassland area, a set of data products were calculated at 0.5 ×0.5 m resolution. These represent various aspects of radiometric and geometric texture. A Random Forest machine learning classifier was developed to create fuzzy vegetation maps of classes of interest based on these data products. In the next step, either classification results or LIDAR data products were selected as proxies for individual Natura 2000 conservation status variables, and fine-tuned based on field references. These proxies showed adequate performance and were summarized to deliver Natura 2000 conservation status with 80% overall accuracy compared to field references. This study draws attention to the potential of LIDAR for regional-scale Essential Biodiversity variables, and also holds implications for global-scale mapping. These are (i) the use of sensor data products together with habitat-level classification, (ii) the utility of seasonal data, including for non-seasonal variables such as grassland canopy structure, and (iii) the potential of fuzzy mapping-derived class probabilities as proxies for species presence and absence.

Conservative algorithms for non-Maxwellian plasma kinetics

DOE PAGES

Le, Hai P.; Cambier, Jean -Luc

2017-12-08

Here, we present a numerical model and a set of conservative algorithms for Non-Maxwellian plasma kinetics with inelastic collisions. These algorithms self-consistently solve for the time evolution of an isotropic electron energy distribution function interacting with an atomic state distribution function of an arbitrary number of levels through collisional excitation, deexcitation, as well as ionization and recombination. Electron-electron collisions, responsible for thermalization of the electron distribution, are also included in the model. The proposed algorithms guarantee mass/charge and energy conservation in a single step, and is applied to the case of non-uniform gridding of the energy axis in the phasemore » space of the electron distribution function. Numerical test cases are shown to demonstrate the accuracy of the method and its conservation properties.« less

Environmental service payments: evaluating biodiversity conservation trade-offs and cost-efficiency in the Osa Conservation Area, Costa Rica.

PubMed

Barton, D N; Faith, D P; Rusch, G M; Acevedo, H; Paniagua, L; Castro, M

2009-02-01

The cost-efficiency of payments for environmental services (PES) to private landowners in the Osa Conservation Area, Costa Rica, is evaluated in terms of the trade-off between biodiversity representation and opportunity costs of conservation to agricultural and forestry land-use. Using available GIS data and an 'off-the-shelf' software application called TARGET, we find that the PES allocation criteria applied by authorities in 2002-2003 were more than twice as cost-efficient as criteria applied during 1999-2001. Results show that a policy relevant assessment of the cost-effectiveness of PES relative to other conservation policies can be carried out at regional level using available studies and GIS data. However, there are a number of data and conceptual limitations to using heuristic optimisation algorithms in the analysis of the cost-efficiency of PES. Site specific data on probabilities of land-use change, and a detailed specification of opportunity costs of farm land, labour and capital are required to use algorithms such as TARGET for ranking individual sites based on cost-efficiency. Despite its conceptual soundness for regional conservation analysis, biodiversity complementarity presents a practical challenge as a criterion for PES eligibility at farm level because it varies depending on the set of areas under PES contracts at any one time.

A free energy-based surface tension force model for simulation of multiphase flows by level-set method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, H. Z.; Chen, Z.; Shu, C.; Wang, Y.; Niu, X. D.; Shu, S.

2017-09-01

In this paper, a free energy-based surface tension force (FESF) model is presented for accurately resolving the surface tension force in numerical simulation of multiphase flows by the level set method. By using the analytical form of order parameter along the normal direction to the interface in the phase-field method and the free energy principle, FESF model offers an explicit and analytical formulation for the surface tension force. The only variable in this formulation is the normal distance to the interface, which can be substituted by the distance function solved by the level set method. On one hand, as compared to conventional continuum surface force (CSF) model in the level set method, FESF model introduces no regularized delta function, due to which it suffers less from numerical diffusions and performs better in mass conservation. On the other hand, as compared to the phase field surface tension force (PFSF) model, the evaluation of surface tension force in FESF model is based on an analytical approach rather than numerical approximations of spatial derivatives. Therefore, better numerical stability and higher accuracy can be expected. Various numerical examples are tested to validate the robustness of the proposed FESF model. It turns out that FESF model performs better than CSF model and PFSF model in terms of accuracy, stability, convergence speed and mass conservation. It is also shown in numerical tests that FESF model can effectively simulate problems with high density/viscosity ratio, high Reynolds number and severe topological interfacial changes.

Valuation of crop genetic resources in Kaski, Nepal: farmers' willingness to pay for rice landraces conservation.

PubMed

Poudel, Diwakar; Johnsen, Fred H

2009-01-01

Crop genetic resources constitute an important aspect of biodiversity conservation, both because of their direct value to the farmers and due to their indirect global value. This study uses the contingent valuation method to document the economic value of crop genetic resources based on the farmers' willingness to pay for conservation. A total of 107 households in Kaski, Nepal were surveyed in November 2003. Their mean willingness to pay was USD 4.18 for in situ and USD 2.20 for ex situ conservation per annum. Landholding size, household size, education level, socio-economic status, sex of respondent, number of crop landraces grown, and knowledge on biodiversity influenced the willingness to pay for in situ conservation, whereas only landholding size and household size influenced the willingness to pay for ex situ conservation. The respondents were willing to contribute more for in situ than ex situ conservation because of the additional effect of direct use and direct involvement of the farmers in in situ conservation. This study supports the view that economic valuation of crop genetic resources can assist the policy makers in setting conservation priorities.

Designing coastal conservation to deliver ecosystem and human well-being benefits.

PubMed

Annis, Gust M; Pearsall, Douglas R; Kahl, Katherine J; Washburn, Erika L; May, Christopher A; Franks Taylor, Rachael; Cole, James B; Ewert, David N; Game, Edward T; Doran, Patrick J

2017-01-01

Conservation scientists increasingly recognize that incorporating human values into conservation planning increases the chances for success by garnering broader project acceptance. However, methods for defining quantitative targets for the spatial representation of human well-being priorities are less developed. In this study we employ an approach for identifying regionally important human values and establishing specific spatial targets for their representation based on stakeholder outreach. Our primary objective was to develop a spatially-explicit conservation plan that identifies the most efficient locations for conservation actions to meet ecological goals while sustaining or enhancing human well-being values within the coastal and nearshore areas of the western Lake Erie basin (WLEB). We conducted an optimization analysis using 26 features representing ecological and human well-being priorities (13 of each), and included seven cost layers. The influence that including human well-being had on project results was tested by running five scenarios and setting targets for human well-being at different levels in each scenario. The most important areas for conservation to achieve multiple goals are clustered along the coast, reflecting a concentration of existing or potentially restorable coastal wetlands, coastal landbird stopover habitat and terrestrial biodiversity, as well as important recreational activities. Inland important areas tended to cluster around trails and high quality inland landbird stopover habitat. Most concentrated areas of importance also are centered on lands that are already conserved, reflecting the lower costs and higher benefits of enlarging these conserved areas rather than conserving isolated, dispersed areas. Including human well-being features in the analysis only influenced the solution at the highest target levels.

Designing coastal conservation to deliver ecosystem and human well-being benefits

PubMed Central

Pearsall, Douglas R.; Kahl, Katherine J.; Washburn, Erika L.; May, Christopher A.; Franks Taylor, Rachael; Cole, James B.; Ewert, David N.; Game, Edward T.; Doran, Patrick J.

2017-01-01

Conservation scientists increasingly recognize that incorporating human values into conservation planning increases the chances for success by garnering broader project acceptance. However, methods for defining quantitative targets for the spatial representation of human well-being priorities are less developed. In this study we employ an approach for identifying regionally important human values and establishing specific spatial targets for their representation based on stakeholder outreach. Our primary objective was to develop a spatially-explicit conservation plan that identifies the most efficient locations for conservation actions to meet ecological goals while sustaining or enhancing human well-being values within the coastal and nearshore areas of the western Lake Erie basin (WLEB). We conducted an optimization analysis using 26 features representing ecological and human well-being priorities (13 of each), and included seven cost layers. The influence that including human well-being had on project results was tested by running five scenarios and setting targets for human well-being at different levels in each scenario. The most important areas for conservation to achieve multiple goals are clustered along the coast, reflecting a concentration of existing or potentially restorable coastal wetlands, coastal landbird stopover habitat and terrestrial biodiversity, as well as important recreational activities. Inland important areas tended to cluster around trails and high quality inland landbird stopover habitat. Most concentrated areas of importance also are centered on lands that are already conserved, reflecting the lower costs and higher benefits of enlarging these conserved areas rather than conserving isolated, dispersed areas. Including human well-being features in the analysis only influenced the solution at the highest target levels. PMID:28241018

Setting conservation priorities for migratory networks under uncertainty.

PubMed

Dhanjal-Adams, Kiran L; Klaassen, Marcel; Nicol, Sam; Possingham, Hugh P; Chadès, Iadine; Fuller, Richard A

2017-06-01

Conserving migratory species requires protecting connected habitat along the pathways they travel. Despite recent improvements in tracking animal movements, migratory connectivity remains poorly resolved at a population level for the vast majority of species, thus conservation prioritization is hampered. To address this data limitation, we developed a novel approach to spatial prioritization based on a model of potential connectivity derived from empirical data on species abundance and distance traveled between sites during migration. We applied the approach to migratory shorebirds of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. Conservation strategies that prioritized sites based on connectivity and abundance metrics together maintained larger populations of birds than strategies that prioritized sites based only on abundance metrics. The conservation value of a site therefore depended on both its capacity to support migratory animals and its position within the migratory pathway; the loss of crucial sites led to partial or total population collapse. We suggest that conservation approaches that prioritize sites supporting large populations of migrants should, where possible, also include data on the spatial arrangement of sites. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

The economic efficiency of conservation measures for amphibians in organic farming--results from bio-economic modelling.

PubMed

Schuler, Johannes; Sattler, Claudia; Helmecke, Angela; Zander, Peter; Uthes, Sandra; Bachinger, Johann; Stein-Bachinger, Karin

2013-01-15

This paper presents a whole farm bio-economic modelling approach for the assessment and optimisation of amphibian conservation conditions applied at the example of a large scale organic farm in North-Eastern Germany. The assessment focuses mainly on the habitat quality as affected by conservation measures such as through specific adapted crop production activities (CPA) and in-field buffer strips for the European tree frog (Hyla arborea), considering also interrelations with other amphibian species (i.e. common spadefoot toad (Pelobates fuscus), fire-bellied toad (Bombina bombina)). The aim of the approach is to understand, analyse and optimize the relationships between the ecological and economic performance of an organic farming system, based on the expectation that amphibians are differently impacted by different CPAs. The modelling system consists of a set of different sub-models that generate a farm model on the basis of environmentally evaluated CPAs. A crop-rotation sub-model provides a set of agronomically sustainable crop rotations that ensures overall sufficient nitrogen supply and controls weed, pest and disease infestations. An economic sub-model calculates the gross margins for each possible CPA including costs of inputs such as labour and machinery. The conservation effects of the CPAs are assessed with an ecological sub-model evaluates the potential negative or positive effect that each work step of a CPA has on amphibians. A mathematical programming sub-model calculates the optimal farm organization taking into account the limited factors of the farm (e.g. labour, land) as well as ecological improvements. In sequential model runs, the habitat quality is to be improved by the model, while the highest possible gross margin is still to be achieved. The results indicate that the model can be used to show the scope of action that a farmer has to improve habitat quality by reducing damage to amphibian population on its land during agricultural activities. Thereby, depending on the level of habitat quality that is aimed at, different measures may provide the most efficient solution. Lower levels of conservation can be achieved with low-cost adapted CPAs, such as an increased cutting height, reduced sowing density and grubbing instead of ploughing. Higher levels of conservation require e.g. grassland-like managed buffer strips around ponds in sensible areas, which incur much higher on-farm conservation costs. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Improvements to Level Set, Immersed Boundary methods for Interface Tracking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vogl, Chris; Leveque, Randy

2014-11-01

It is not uncommon to find oneself solving a moving boundary problem under flow in the context of some application. Of particular interest is when the moving boundary exerts a curvature-dependent force on the liquid. Such a force arises when observing a boundary that is resistant to bending or has surface tension. Numerically speaking, stable numerical computation of the curvature can be difficult as it is often described in terms of high-order derivatives of either marker particle positions or of a level set function. To address this issue, the level set method is modified to track not only the position of the boundary, but the curvature as well. The definition of the signed-distance function that is used to modify the level set method is also used to develop an interpolation-free, closest-point method. These improvements are used to simulate a bending-resistant, inextensible boundary under shear flow to highlight area and volume conservation, as well as stable curvature calculation. Funded by a NSF MSPRF grant.

THE EFFECT OF AUTOMOTIVE FUEL CONSERVATION MEASURES ON AIR POLLUTION

EPA Science Inventory

A number of policies have been designed to reduce gasoline consumption by automobiles, including: gasoline rationing; increases in the federal excise tax on gasoline; excise taxes on new cars, in inverse proportion to their fuel economy; and regulations to set minimum levels on a...

Essentiality, conservation, evolutionary pressure and codon bias in bacterial genomes.

PubMed

Dilucca, Maddalena; Cimini, Giulio; Giansanti, Andrea

2018-07-15

Essential genes constitute the core of genes which cannot be mutated too much nor lost along the evolutionary history of a species. Natural selection is expected to be stricter on essential genes and on conserved (highly shared) genes, than on genes that are either nonessential or peculiar to a single or a few species. In order to further assess this expectation, we study here how essentiality of a gene is connected with its degree of conservation among several unrelated bacterial species, each one characterised by its own codon usage bias. Confirming previous results on E. coli, we show the existence of a universal exponential relation between gene essentiality and conservation in bacteria. Moreover, we show that, within each bacterial genome, there are at least two groups of functionally distinct genes, characterised by different levels of conservation and codon bias: i) a core of essential genes, mainly related to cellular information processing; ii) a set of less conserved nonessential genes with prevalent functions related to metabolism. In particular, the genes in the first group are more retained among species, are subject to a stronger purifying conservative selection and display a more limited repertoire of synonymous codons. The core of essential genes is close to the minimal bacterial genome, which is in the focus of recent studies in synthetic biology, though we confirm that orthologs of genes that are essential in one species are not necessarily essential in other species. We also list a set of highly shared genes which, reasonably, could constitute a reservoir of targets for new anti-microbial drugs. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Filling gaps in a large reserve network to address freshwater conservation needs.

PubMed

Hermoso, Virgilio; Filipe, Ana Filipa; Segurado, Pedro; Beja, Pedro

2015-09-15

Freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity are among the most threatened at global scale, but efforts for their conservation have been mostly peripheral to terrestrial conservation. For example, Natura 2000, the world's largest network of protected areas, fails to cover adequately the distribution of rare and endangered aquatic species, and lacks of appropriate spatial design to make conservation for freshwater biodiversity effective. Here, we develop a framework to identify a complementary set of priority areas and enhance the conservation opportunities of Natura 2000 for freshwater biodiversity, using the Iberian Peninsula as a case study. We use a systematic planning approach to identify a minimum set of additional areas that would help i) adequately represent all freshwater fish, amphibians and aquatic reptiles at three different target levels, ii) account for key ecological processes derived from riverscape connectivity, and iii) minimize the impact of threats, both within protected areas and propagated from upstream unprotected areas. Addressing all these goals would need an increase in area between 7 and 46%, depending on the conservation target used and strength of connectivity required. These new priority areas correspond to subcatchments inhabited by endangered and range restricted species, as well as additional subcatchments required to improve connectivity among existing protected areas and to increase protection against upstream threats. Our study should help guide future revisions of the design of Natura 2000, while providing a framework to address deficiencies in reserve networks for adequately protecting freshwater biodiversity elsewhere. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Integrating economic costs and biological traits into global conservation priorities for carnivores.

PubMed

Loyola, Rafael Dias; Oliveira-Santos, Luiz Gustavo Rodrigues; Almeida-Neto, Mário; Nogueira, Denise Martins; Kubota, Umberto; Diniz-Filho, José Alexandre Felizola; Lewinsohn, Thomas Michael

2009-08-27

Prioritization schemes usually highlight species-rich areas, where many species are at imminent risk of extinction. To be ecologically relevant these schemes should also include species biological traits into area-setting methods. Furthermore, in a world of limited funds for conservation, conservation action is constrained by land acquisition costs. Hence, including economic costs into conservation priorities can substantially improve their conservation cost-effectiveness. We examined four global conservation scenarios for carnivores based on the joint mapping of economic costs and species biological traits. These scenarios identify the most cost-effective priority sets of ecoregions, indicating best investment opportunities for safeguarding every carnivore species, and also establish priority sets that can maximize species representation in areas harboring highly vulnerable species. We compared these results with a scenario that minimizes the total number of ecoregions required for conserving all species, irrespective of other factors. We found that cost-effective conservation investments should focus on 41 ecoregions highlighted in the scenario that consider simultaneously both ecoregion vulnerability and economic costs of land acquisition. Ecoregions included in priority sets under these criteria should yield best returns of investments since they harbor species with high extinction risk and have lower mean land cost. Our study highlights ecoregions of particular importance for the conservation of the world's carnivores defining global conservation priorities in analyses that encompass socioeconomic and life-history factors. We consider the identification of a comprehensive priority-set of areas as a first step towards an in-situ biodiversity maintenance strategy.

Optimized spatial priorities for biodiversity conservation in China: a systematic conservation planning perspective.

PubMed

Wu, Ruidong; Long, Yongcheng; Malanson, George P; Garber, Paul A; Zhang, Shuang; Li, Diqiang; Zhao, Peng; Wang, Longzhu; Duo, Hairui

2014-01-01

By addressing several key features overlooked in previous studies, i.e. human disturbance, integration of ecosystem- and species-level conservation features, and principles of complementarity and representativeness, we present the first national-scale systematic conservation planning for China to determine the optimized spatial priorities for biodiversity conservation. We compiled a spatial database on the distributions of ecosystem- and species-level conservation features, and modeled a human disturbance index (HDI) by aggregating information using several socioeconomic proxies. We ran Marxan with two scenarios (HDI-ignored and HDI-considered) to investigate the effects of human disturbance, and explored the geographic patterns of the optimized spatial conservation priorities. Compared to when HDI was ignored, the HDI-considered scenario resulted in (1) a marked reduction (∼9%) in the total HDI score and a slight increase (∼7%) in the total area of the portfolio of priority units, (2) a significant increase (∼43%) in the total irreplaceable area and (3) more irreplaceable units being identified in almost all environmental zones and highly-disturbed provinces. Thus the inclusion of human disturbance is essential for cost-effective priority-setting. Attention should be targeted to the areas that are characterized as moderately-disturbed, <2,000 m in altitude, and/or intermediately- to extremely-rugged in terrain to identify potentially important regions for implementing cost-effective conservation. We delineated 23 primary large-scale priority areas that are significant for conserving China's biodiversity, but those isolated priority units in disturbed regions are in more urgent need of conservation actions so as to prevent immediate and severe biodiversity loss. This study presents a spatially optimized national-scale portfolio of conservation priorities--effectively representing the overall biodiversity of China while minimizing conflicts with economic development. Our results offer critical insights for current conservation and strategic land-use planning in China. The approach is transferable and easy to implement by end-users, and applicable for national- and local-scale systematic conservation prioritization practices.

Optimized Spatial Priorities for Biodiversity Conservation in China: A Systematic Conservation Planning Perspective

PubMed Central

Wu, Ruidong; Long, Yongcheng; Malanson, George P.; Garber, Paul A.; Zhang, Shuang; Li, Diqiang; Zhao, Peng; Wang, Longzhu; Duo, Hairui

2014-01-01

By addressing several key features overlooked in previous studies, i.e. human disturbance, integration of ecosystem- and species-level conservation features, and principles of complementarity and representativeness, we present the first national-scale systematic conservation planning for China to determine the optimized spatial priorities for biodiversity conservation. We compiled a spatial database on the distributions of ecosystem- and species-level conservation features, and modeled a human disturbance index (HDI) by aggregating information using several socioeconomic proxies. We ran Marxan with two scenarios (HDI-ignored and HDI-considered) to investigate the effects of human disturbance, and explored the geographic patterns of the optimized spatial conservation priorities. Compared to when HDI was ignored, the HDI-considered scenario resulted in (1) a marked reduction (∼9%) in the total HDI score and a slight increase (∼7%) in the total area of the portfolio of priority units, (2) a significant increase (∼43%) in the total irreplaceable area and (3) more irreplaceable units being identified in almost all environmental zones and highly-disturbed provinces. Thus the inclusion of human disturbance is essential for cost-effective priority-setting. Attention should be targeted to the areas that are characterized as moderately-disturbed, <2,000 m in altitude, and/or intermediately- to extremely-rugged in terrain to identify potentially important regions for implementing cost-effective conservation. We delineated 23 primary large-scale priority areas that are significant for conserving China's biodiversity, but those isolated priority units in disturbed regions are in more urgent need of conservation actions so as to prevent immediate and severe biodiversity loss. This study presents a spatially optimized national-scale portfolio of conservation priorities – effectively representing the overall biodiversity of China while minimizing conflicts with economic development. Our results offer critical insights for current conservation and strategic land-use planning in China. The approach is transferable and easy to implement by end-users, and applicable for national- and local-scale systematic conservation prioritization practices. PMID:25072933

Conservative treatment of ectopic pregnancy in a sub-Saharan African setting.

PubMed

Foumane, P; Mboudou, E T; Dohbit, J S; Ndingue, S Mbakop; Tebeu, P M; Doh, A S

2011-04-01

In the sub-Saharan African setting, laparotomy for salpingectomy is the common method of treatment for ectopic pregnancy (EP). The objective of this retrospective study was to find out how common EP is treated conservatively in the Yaounde Gynaeco-Obstetric and Paediatric Hospital, Cameroon. Of the 281 patient files analysed, 126 patients (44.8%) were treated conservatively and successfully for EP. Of these, 86 (68.2%) had received conservative surgical treatment while 40 (31.8%) had non-surgical treatment. Salpingostomy was the conservative surgery for 79.1% of the cases. According to the publications available for the sub-Saharan setting, the rate of conservative management of EP at the Yaounde Gynaeco-Obstetric and Paediatric Hospital, Cameroon is high. We recommend that this rate should be improved so that, eventually, the conservative treatment methods of EP become routine.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Le, Hai P.; Cambier, Jean -Luc

Here, we present a numerical model and a set of conservative algorithms for Non-Maxwellian plasma kinetics with inelastic collisions. These algorithms self-consistently solve for the time evolution of an isotropic electron energy distribution function interacting with an atomic state distribution function of an arbitrary number of levels through collisional excitation, deexcitation, as well as ionization and recombination. Electron-electron collisions, responsible for thermalization of the electron distribution, are also included in the model. The proposed algorithms guarantee mass/charge and energy conservation in a single step, and is applied to the case of non-uniform gridding of the energy axis in the phasemore » space of the electron distribution function. Numerical test cases are shown to demonstrate the accuracy of the method and its conservation properties.« less

Conserved Quantities in General Relativity: From the Quasi-Local Level to Spatial Infinity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Po-Ning; Wang, Mu-Tao; Yau, Shing-Tung

2015-08-01

We define quasi-local conserved quantities in general relativity by using the optimal isometric embedding in Wang and Yau (Commun Math Phys 288(3):919-942, 2009) to transplant Killing fields in the Minkowski spacetime back to the 2-surface of interest in a physical spacetime. To each optimal isometric embedding, a dual element of the Lie algebra of the Lorentz group is assigned. Quasi-local angular momentum and quasi-local center of mass correspond to pairing this element with rotation Killing fields and boost Killing fields, respectively. They obey classical transformation laws under the action of the Poincaré group. We further justify these definitions by considering their limits as the total angular momentum and the total center of mass of an isolated system. These expressions were derived from the Hamilton-Jacobi analysis of the gravitational action and thus satisfy conservation laws. As a result, we obtained an invariant total angular momentum theorem in the Kerr spacetime. For a vacuum asymptotically flat initial data set of order 1, it is shown that the limits are always finite without any extra assumptions. We also study these total conserved quantities on a family of asymptotically flat initial data sets evolving by the vacuum Einstein evolution equation. It is shown that the total angular momentum is conserved under the evolution. For the total center of mass, the classical dynamical formula relating the center of mass, energy, and linear momentum is recovered, in the nonlinear context of initial data sets evolving by the vacuum Einstein evolution equation. The definition of quasi-local angular momentum provides an answer to the second problem in classical general relativity on Penrose's list (Proc R Soc Lond Ser A 381(1780):53-63, 1982).

Phylum-Level Conservation of Regulatory Information in Nematodes despite Extensive Non-coding Sequence Divergence

PubMed Central

Gordon, Kacy L.; Arthur, Robert K.; Ruvinsky, Ilya

2015-01-01

Gene regulatory information guides development and shapes the course of evolution. To test conservation of gene regulation within the phylum Nematoda, we compared the functions of putative cis-regulatory sequences of four sets of orthologs (unc-47, unc-25, mec-3 and elt-2) from distantly-related nematode species. These species, Caenorhabditis elegans, its congeneric C. briggsae, and three parasitic species Meloidogyne hapla, Brugia malayi, and Trichinella spiralis, represent four of the five major clades in the phylum Nematoda. Despite the great phylogenetic distances sampled and the extensive sequence divergence of nematode genomes, all but one of the regulatory elements we tested are able to drive at least a subset of the expected gene expression patterns. We show that functionally conserved cis-regulatory elements have no more extended sequence similarity to their C. elegans orthologs than would be expected by chance, but they do harbor motifs that are important for proper expression of the C. elegans genes. These motifs are too short to be distinguished from the background level of sequence similarity, and while identical in sequence they are not conserved in orientation or position. Functional tests reveal that some of these motifs contribute to proper expression. Our results suggest that conserved regulatory circuitry can persist despite considerable turnover within cis elements. PMID:26020930

Synthesis of economic criteria in the design of electric utility industrial conservation programs in Costa Rica

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fisher, S.C.

This paper lays out a set of economic criteria to guide the development of electricity conservation programs for industrial customers of the Costa Rican utilities. It puts the problem of utility and other public policy formulation in the industrial conservation field into the context of ongoing economic and trade liberalization in Costa Rica, as well as the financial and political pressures with which the country`s utilities must contend. The need to bolster utility financial performance and the perennial political difficulty of adjusting power rates for inflation and devaluation, not to mention maintaining efficient real levels, puts a premium on controllingmore » the costs of utility conservation programs and increasing the degree of cost recovery over time. Industrial conservation programs in Costa Rica must adopt a certain degree of activation to help overcome serious market failures and imperfections while at the same time avoiding significant distortion of the price signals guiding the ongoing industrial rationalization process and the reactivation of growth.« less

Use of inverse spatial conservation prioritization to avoid biological diversity loss outside protected areas.

PubMed

Kareksela, Santtu; Moilanen, Atte; Tuominen, Seppo; Kotiaho, Janne S

2013-12-01

Globally expanding human land use sets constantly increasing pressure for maintenance of biological diversity and functioning ecosystems. To fight the decline of biological diversity, conservation science has broken ground with methods such as the operational model of systematic conservation planning (SCP), which focuses on design and on-the-ground implementation of conservation areas. The most commonly used method in SCP is reserve selection that focuses on the spatial design of reserve networks and their expansion. We expanded these methods by introducing another form of spatial allocation of conservation effort relevant for land-use zoning at the landscape scale that avoids negative ecological effects of human land use outside protected areas. We call our method inverse spatial conservation prioritization. It can be used to identify areas suitable for economic development while simultaneously limiting total ecological and environmental effects of that development at the landscape level by identifying areas with highest economic but lowest ecological value. Our method is not based on a priori targets, and as such it is applicable to cases where the effects of land use on, for example, individual species or ecosystem types are relatively small and would not lead to violation of regional or national conservation targets. We applied our method to land-use allocation to peat mining. Our method identified a combination of profitable production areas that provides the needed area for peat production while retaining most of the landscape-level ecological value of the ecosystem. The results of this inverse spatial conservation prioritization are being used in land-use zoning in the province of Central Finland. © 2013 Society for Conservation Biology.

Environmental Gap Analysis to Prioritize Conservation Efforts in Eastern Africa

PubMed Central

van Breugel, Paulo; Kindt, Roeland; Lillesø, Jens-Peter Barnekow; van Breugel, Michiel

2015-01-01

Countries in eastern Africa have set aside significant proportions of their land for protection. But are these areas representative of the diverse range of species and habitats found in the region? And do conservation efforts include areas where the state of biodiversity is likely to deteriorate without further interventions? Various studies have addressed these questions at global and continental scales. However, meaningful conservation decisions are required at finer geographical scales. To operate more effectively at the national level, finer scale baseline data on species and on higher levels of biological organization such as the eco-regions are required, among other factors. Here we adopted a recently developed high-resolution potential natural vegetation (PNV) map for eastern Africa as a baseline to more effectively identify conservation priorities. We examined how well different potential natural vegetations (PNVs) are represented in the protected area (PA) network of eastern Africa and used a multivariate environmental similarity index to evaluate biases in PA versus PNV coverage. We additionally overlaid data of anthropogenic factors that potentially influence the natural vegetation to assess the level of threat to different PNVs. Our results indicate substantial differences in the conservation status of PNVs. In addition, particular PNVs in which biodiversity protection and ecological functions are at risk due to human influences are revealed. The data and approach presented here provide a step forward in developing more transparent and better informed translation from global priorities to regional or national implementation in eastern Africa, and are valid for other geographic regions. PMID:25855968

Integrating Economic Costs and Biological Traits into Global Conservation Priorities for Carnivores

PubMed Central

Loyola, Rafael Dias; Oliveira-Santos, Luiz Gustavo Rodrigues; Almeida-Neto, Mário; Nogueira, Denise Martins; Kubota, Umberto; Diniz-Filho, José Alexandre Felizola; Lewinsohn, Thomas Michael

2009-01-01

Background Prioritization schemes usually highlight species-rich areas, where many species are at imminent risk of extinction. To be ecologically relevant these schemes should also include species biological traits into area-setting methods. Furthermore, in a world of limited funds for conservation, conservation action is constrained by land acquisition costs. Hence, including economic costs into conservation priorities can substantially improve their conservation cost-effectiveness. Methodology/Principal Findings We examined four global conservation scenarios for carnivores based on the joint mapping of economic costs and species biological traits. These scenarios identify the most cost-effective priority sets of ecoregions, indicating best investment opportunities for safeguarding every carnivore species, and also establish priority sets that can maximize species representation in areas harboring highly vulnerable species. We compared these results with a scenario that minimizes the total number of ecoregions required for conserving all species, irrespective of other factors. We found that cost-effective conservation investments should focus on 41 ecoregions highlighted in the scenario that consider simultaneously both ecoregion vulnerability and economic costs of land acquisition. Ecoregions included in priority sets under these criteria should yield best returns of investments since they harbor species with high extinction risk and have lower mean land cost. Conclusions/Significance Our study highlights ecoregions of particular importance for the conservation of the world's carnivores defining global conservation priorities in analyses that encompass socioeconomic and life-history factors. We consider the identification of a comprehensive priority-set of areas as a first step towards an in-situ biodiversity maintenance strategy. PMID:19710911

Epigenetic conservation at gene regulatory elements revealed by non-methylated DNA profiling in seven vertebrates

PubMed Central

Long, Hannah K; Sims, David; Heger, Andreas; Blackledge, Neil P; Kutter, Claudia; Wright, Megan L; Grützner, Frank; Odom, Duncan T; Patient, Roger; Ponting, Chris P; Klose, Robert J

2013-01-01

Two-thirds of gene promoters in mammals are associated with regions of non-methylated DNA, called CpG islands (CGIs), which counteract the repressive effects of DNA methylation on chromatin. In cold-blooded vertebrates, computational CGI predictions often reside away from gene promoters, suggesting a major divergence in gene promoter architecture across vertebrates. By experimentally identifying non-methylated DNA in the genomes of seven diverse vertebrates, we instead reveal that non-methylated islands (NMIs) of DNA are a central feature of vertebrate gene promoters. Furthermore, NMIs are present at orthologous genes across vast evolutionary distances, revealing a surprising level of conservation in this epigenetic feature. By profiling NMIs in different tissues and developmental stages we uncover a unifying set of features that are central to the function of NMIs in vertebrates. Together these findings demonstrate an ancient logic for NMI usage at gene promoters and reveal an unprecedented level of epigenetic conservation across vertebrate evolution. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.00348.001 PMID:23467541

How conservative is Fisher's exact test? A quantitative evaluation of the two-sample comparative binomial trial.

PubMed

Crans, Gerald G; Shuster, Jonathan J

2008-08-15

The debate as to which statistical methodology is most appropriate for the analysis of the two-sample comparative binomial trial has persisted for decades. Practitioners who favor the conditional methods of Fisher, Fisher's exact test (FET), claim that only experimental outcomes containing the same amount of information should be considered when performing analyses. Hence, the total number of successes should be fixed at its observed level in hypothetical repetitions of the experiment. Using conditional methods in clinical settings can pose interpretation difficulties, since results are derived using conditional sample spaces rather than the set of all possible outcomes. Perhaps more importantly from a clinical trial design perspective, this test can be too conservative, resulting in greater resource requirements and more subjects exposed to an experimental treatment. The actual significance level attained by FET (the size of the test) has not been reported in the statistical literature. Berger (J. R. Statist. Soc. D (The Statistician) 2001; 50:79-85) proposed assessing the conservativeness of conditional methods using p-value confidence intervals. In this paper we develop a numerical algorithm that calculates the size of FET for sample sizes, n, up to 125 per group at the two-sided significance level, alpha = 0.05. Additionally, this numerical method is used to define new significance levels alpha(*) = alpha+epsilon, where epsilon is a small positive number, for each n, such that the size of the test is as close as possible to the pre-specified alpha (0.05 for the current work) without exceeding it. Lastly, a sample size and power calculation example are presented, which demonstrates the statistical advantages of implementing the adjustment to FET (using alpha(*) instead of alpha) in the two-sample comparative binomial trial. 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Looking for hotspots of marine metacommunity connectivity: a methodological framework

PubMed Central

Melià, Paco; Schiavina, Marcello; Rossetto, Marisa; Gatto, Marino; Fraschetti, Simonetta; Casagrandi, Renato

2016-01-01

Seascape connectivity critically affects the spatiotemporal dynamics of marine metacommunities. Understanding how connectivity patterns emerge from physically and biologically-mediated interactions is therefore crucial to conserve marine ecosystem functions and biodiversity. Here, we develop a set of biophysical models to explore connectivity in assemblages of species belonging to a typical Mediterranean community (Posidonia oceanica meadows) and characterized by different dispersing traits. We propose a novel methodological framework to synthesize species-specific results into a set of community connectivity metrics and show that spatiotemporal variation in magnitude and direction of the connections, as well as interspecific differences in dispersing traits, are key factors structuring community connectivity. We eventually demonstrate how these metrics can be used to characterize the functional role of each marine area in determining patterns of community connectivity at the basin level and to support marine conservation planning. PMID:27029563

Looking for hotspots of marine metacommunity connectivity: a methodological framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Melià, Paco; Schiavina, Marcello; Rossetto, Marisa; Gatto, Marino; Fraschetti, Simonetta; Casagrandi, Renato

2016-03-01

Seascape connectivity critically affects the spatiotemporal dynamics of marine metacommunities. Understanding how connectivity patterns emerge from physically and biologically-mediated interactions is therefore crucial to conserve marine ecosystem functions and biodiversity. Here, we develop a set of biophysical models to explore connectivity in assemblages of species belonging to a typical Mediterranean community (Posidonia oceanica meadows) and characterized by different dispersing traits. We propose a novel methodological framework to synthesize species-specific results into a set of community connectivity metrics and show that spatiotemporal variation in magnitude and direction of the connections, as well as interspecific differences in dispersing traits, are key factors structuring community connectivity. We eventually demonstrate how these metrics can be used to characterize the functional role of each marine area in determining patterns of community connectivity at the basin level and to support marine conservation planning.

How much is enough? The recurrent problem of setting measurable objectives in conservation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Tear, T.H.; Kareiva, P.; Angermeier, P.L.; Comer, P.; Czech, B.; Kautz, R.; Landon, L.; Mehlman, D.; Murphy, K.; Ruckelshaus, M.; Scott, J.M.; Wilhere, G.

2005-01-01

International agreements, environmental laws, resource management agencies, and environmental nongovernmental organizations all establish objectives that define what they hope to accomplish. Unfortunately, quantitative objectives in conservation are typically set without consistency and scientific rigor. As a result, conservationists are failing to provide credible answers to the question "How much is enough?" This is a serious problem because objectives profoundly shape where and how limited conservation resources are spent, and help to create a shared vision for the future. In this article we develop guidelines to help steer conservation biologists and practitioners through the process of objective setting. We provide three case studies to highlight the practical challenges of objective setting in different social, political, and legal contexts. We also identify crucial gaps in our science, including limited knowledge of species distributions and of large-scale, long-term ecosystem dynamics, that must be filled if we hope to do better than setting conservation objectives through intuition and best guesses. ?? 2005 American Institute of Biological Sciences.

Numerical Modelling of Three-Fluid Flow Using The Level-set Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Hongying; Lou, Jing; Shang, Zhi

2014-11-01

This work presents a numerical model for simulation of three-fluid flow involving two different moving interfaces. These interfaces are captured using the level-set method via two different level-set functions. A combined formulation with only one set of conservation equations for the whole physical domain, consisting of the three different immiscible fluids, is employed. Numerical solution is performed on a fixed mesh using the finite volume method. Surface tension effect is incorporated using the Continuum Surface Force model. Validation of the present model is made against available results for stratified flow and rising bubble in a container with a free surface. Applications of the present model are demonstrated by a variety of three-fluid flow systems including (1) three-fluid stratified flow, (2) two-fluid stratified flow carrying the third fluid in the form of drops and (3) simultaneous rising and settling of two drops in a stationary third fluid. The work is supported by a Thematic and Strategic Research from A*STAR, Singapore (Ref. #: 1021640075).

Multiobjective hedging rules for flood water conservation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ding, Wei; Zhang, Chi; Cai, Ximing; Li, Yu; Zhou, Huicheng

2017-03-01

Flood water conservation can be beneficial for water uses especially in areas with water stress but also can pose additional flood risk. The potential of flood water conservation is affected by many factors, especially decision makers' preference for water conservation and reservoir inflow forecast uncertainty. This paper discusses the individual and joint effects of these two factors on the trade-off between flood control and water conservation, using a multiobjective, two-stage reservoir optimal operation model. It is shown that hedging between current water conservation and future flood control exists only when forecast uncertainty or decision makers' preference is within a certain range, beyond which, hedging is trivial and the multiobjective optimization problem is reduced to a single objective problem with either flood control or water conservation. Different types of hedging rules are identified with different levels of flood water conservation preference, forecast uncertainties, acceptable flood risk, and reservoir storage capacity. Critical values of decision preference (represented by a weight) and inflow forecast uncertainty (represented by standard deviation) are identified. These inform reservoir managers with a feasible range of their preference to water conservation and thresholds of forecast uncertainty, specifying possible water conservation within the thresholds. The analysis also provides inputs for setting up an optimization model by providing the range of objective weights and the choice of hedging rule types. A case study is conducted to illustrate the concepts and analyses.

Global evolutionary isolation measures can capture key local conservation species in Nearctic and Neotropical bird communities

PubMed Central

Redding, David W.; Mooers, Arne O.; Şekercioğlu, Çağan H.; Collen, Ben

2015-01-01

Understanding how to prioritize among the most deserving imperilled species has been a focus of biodiversity science for the past three decades. Though global metrics that integrate evolutionary history and likelihood of loss have been successfully implemented, conservation is typically carried out at sub-global scales on communities of species rather than among members of complete taxonomic assemblages. Whether and how global measures map to a local scale has received little scrutiny. At a local scale, conservation-relevant assemblages of species are likely to be made up of relatively few species spread across a large phylogenetic tree, and as a consequence there are potentially relatively large amounts of evolutionary history at stake. We ask to what extent global metrics of evolutionary history are useful for conservation priority setting at the community level by evaluating the extent to which three global measures of evolutionary isolation (evolutionary distinctiveness (ED), average pairwise distance (APD) and the pendant edge or unique phylogenetic diversity (PD) contribution) capture community-level phylogenetic and trait diversity for a large sample of Neotropical and Nearctic bird communities. We find that prioritizing the most ED species globally safeguards more than twice the total PD of local communities on average, but that this does not translate into increased local trait diversity. By contrast, global APD is strongly related to the APD of those same species at the community level, and prioritizing these species also safeguards local PD and trait diversity. The next step for biologists is to understand the variation in the concordance of global and local level scores and what this means for conservation priorities: we need more directed research on the use of different measures of evolutionary isolation to determine which might best capture desirable aspects of biodiversity. PMID:25561674

Comparative Evolution of Morphological Regulatory Functions in Candida Species

PubMed Central

Lackey, Erika; Vipulanandan, Geethanjali; Childers, Delma S.

2013-01-01

Morphological transitions play an important role in virulence and virulence-related processes in a wide variety of pathogenic fungi, including the most commonly isolated human fungal pathogen Candida albicans. While environmental signals, transcriptional regulators, and target genes associated with C. albicans morphogenesis are well-characterized, considerably little is known about morphological regulatory mechanisms and the extent to which they are evolutionarily conserved in less pathogenic and less filamentous non-albicans Candida species (NACS). We have identified specific optimal filament-inducing conditions for three NACS (C. tropicalis, C. parapsilosis, and C. guilliermondii), which are very limited, suggesting that these species may be adapted for niche-specific filamentation in the host. Only a subset of evolutionarily conserved C. albicans filament-specific target genes were induced upon filamentation in C. tropicalis, C. parapsilosis, and C. guilliermondii. One of the genes showing conserved expression was UME6, a key filament-specific regulator of C. albicans hyphal development. Constitutive high-level expression of UME6 was sufficient to drive increased filamentation as well as biofilm formation and partly restore conserved filament-specific gene expression in both C. tropicalis and C. parapsilosis, suggesting that evolutionary differences in filamentation ability among pathogenic Candida species may be partially attributed to alterations in the expression level of a conserved filamentous growth machinery. In contrast to UME6, NRG1, an important repressor of C. albicans filamentation, showed only a partly conserved role in controlling NACS filamentation. Overall, our results suggest that C. albicans morphological regulatory functions are partially conserved in NACS and have evolved to respond to more specific sets of host environmental cues. PMID:23913541

Using Poaching Levels and Elephant Distribution to Assess the Conservation Efficacy of Private, Communal and Government Land in Northern Kenya

PubMed Central

Ihwagi, Festus W.; Wang, Tiejun; Wittemyer, George; Skidmore, Andrew K.; Toxopeus, Albertus G.; Ngene, Shadrack; King, Juliet; Worden, Jeffrey; Omondi, Patrick; Douglas-Hamilton, Iain

2015-01-01

Efforts to curb elephant poaching have focused on reducing demand, confiscating ivory and boosting security patrols in elephant range. Where land is under multiple uses and ownership, determining the local poaching dynamics is important for identifying successful conservation models. Using 2,403 verified elephant, Loxodonta africana, mortality records collected from 2002 to 2012 and the results of aerial total counts of elephants conducted in 2002, 2008 and 2012 for the Laikipia-Samburu ecosystem of northern Kenya, we sought to determine the influence of land ownership and use on diurnal elephant distribution and on poaching levels. We show that the annual proportions of illegally killed (i.e., poached) elephants increased over the 11 years of the study, peaking at 70% of all recorded deaths in 2012. The type of land use was more strongly related to levels of poaching than was the type of ownership. Private ranches, comprising only 13% of land area, hosted almost half of the elephant population and had significantly lower levels of poaching than other land use types except for the officially designated national reserves (covering only 1.6% of elephant range in the ecosystem). Communal grazing lands hosted significantly fewer elephants than expected, but community areas set aside for wildlife demonstrated significantly higher numbers of elephants and lower illegal killing levels relative to non-designated community lands. While private lands had lower illegal killing levels than community conservancies, the success of the latter relative to other community-held lands shows the importance of this model of land use for conservation. This work highlights the relationship between illegal killing and various land ownership and use models, which can help focus anti-poaching activities. PMID:26407001

Using Poaching Levels and Elephant Distribution to Assess the Conservation Efficacy of Private, Communal and Government Land in Northern Kenya.

PubMed

Ihwagi, Festus W; Wang, Tiejun; Wittemyer, George; Skidmore, Andrew K; Toxopeus, Albertus G; Ngene, Shadrack; King, Juliet; Worden, Jeffrey; Omondi, Patrick; Douglas-Hamilton, Iain

2015-01-01

Efforts to curb elephant poaching have focused on reducing demand, confiscating ivory and boosting security patrols in elephant range. Where land is under multiple uses and ownership, determining the local poaching dynamics is important for identifying successful conservation models. Using 2,403 verified elephant, Loxodonta africana, mortality records collected from 2002 to 2012 and the results of aerial total counts of elephants conducted in 2002, 2008 and 2012 for the Laikipia-Samburu ecosystem of northern Kenya, we sought to determine the influence of land ownership and use on diurnal elephant distribution and on poaching levels. We show that the annual proportions of illegally killed (i.e., poached) elephants increased over the 11 years of the study, peaking at 70% of all recorded deaths in 2012. The type of land use was more strongly related to levels of poaching than was the type of ownership. Private ranches, comprising only 13% of land area, hosted almost half of the elephant population and had significantly lower levels of poaching than other land use types except for the officially designated national reserves (covering only 1.6% of elephant range in the ecosystem). Communal grazing lands hosted significantly fewer elephants than expected, but community areas set aside for wildlife demonstrated significantly higher numbers of elephants and lower illegal killing levels relative to non-designated community lands. While private lands had lower illegal killing levels than community conservancies, the success of the latter relative to other community-held lands shows the importance of this model of land use for conservation. This work highlights the relationship between illegal killing and various land ownership and use models, which can help focus anti-poaching activities.

Efficiency of a Protected-Area Network in a Mediterranean Region: A Multispecies Assessment with Raptors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abellán, María D.; Martínez, José E.; Palazón, José A.; Esteve, Miguel Á.; Calvo, José F.

2011-05-01

Three different systems of designating protected areas in a Mediterranean region in southeastern Spain were studied, referring to their effectiveness and efficiency for protecting both the breeding territories and the suitable habitat of a set of ten raptor species. Taking into consideration the varying degrees of endangerment of these species, a map of multispecies conservation values was also drawn up and superimposed on the three protected-area systems studied. In order to compare the levels of protection afforded by the three systems, we considered two indices that measured their relative effectiveness and efficiency. The effectiveness estimated the proportion of territories or optimal habitat protected by the networks while efficiency implicitly considered the area of each system (percentage of breeding territories or optimal habitat protected per 1% of land protected). Overall, our results showed that the most efficient system was that formed by the set of regional parks and reserves (17 protected breeding territories per 100 km2), although, given its small total area, it was by far the least effective (only protecting the 21% of the breeding territories of all species and 17% of the area of high conservation value). The systems formed by the Special Protection Areas (designated under the EU "Birds Directive") and by the Special Conservation Areas (designated under the EU "Habitats Directive") notably increased the percentages of protected territories of all species (61%) and area of high conservation value (57%), but their efficiency was not as high as expected in most cases. The overall level of protection was high for all species except for the Lesser Kestrel ( Falco naumanni), an endangered falcon that inhabits pseudo-steppe and traditional agricultural habitats, which are clearly underrepresented in the protected-area network of the study region.

Comment to: "Martini straight: Boosting performance using a shorter cutoff and GPUs" by D.H. de Jong, S. Baoukina, H.I. Ingólfsson, and S.J. Marrink

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benedetti, Florian; Loison, Claire

2018-07-01

In a recent study published in this journal, de Jong et al. investigated the efficiency improvement reached thanks to new parameter sets for molecular dynamics simulations using the coarse-grained Martini force-field and its implementation in the Gromacs simulation package (de Jong et al., 2016). The advantages of the new sets are the computational efficiency and the conservation of the equilibrium properties of the Martini model. This article reports additional tests on the total energy conservation for zwitterionic lipid bilayer membranes. The results show that the conclusion by de Jong et al. on the total energy conservation of the new parameter sets, based on short simulations and homogeneous systems, is not generalizable to long lipid bilayer simulations. The energy conservation of the three parameter sets compared in their article (common, new and new-RF) differ if one analyzes sufficiently long trajectories or if one measures the total energy drifts. In practice, when total energy conservation is important for a Martini lipid bilayer simulation, we would consider either keeping the common set, or carefully testing the new-RF set for energy leaks or sources before production use.

Fine-resolution conservation planning with limited climate-change information.

PubMed

Shah, Payal; Mallory, Mindy L; Ando, Amy W; Guntenspergen, Glenn R

2017-04-01

Climate-change induced uncertainties in future spatial patterns of conservation-related outcomes make it difficult to implement standard conservation-planning paradigms. A recent study translates Markowitz's risk-diversification strategy from finance to conservation settings, enabling conservation agents to use this diversification strategy for allocating conservation and restoration investments across space to minimize the risk associated with such uncertainty. However, this method is information intensive and requires a large number of forecasts of ecological outcomes associated with possible climate-change scenarios for carrying out fine-resolution conservation planning. We developed a technique for iterative, spatial portfolio analysis that can be used to allocate scarce conservation resources across a desired level of subregions in a planning landscape in the absence of a sufficient number of ecological forecasts. We applied our technique to the Prairie Pothole Region in central North America. A lack of sufficient future climate information prevented attainment of the most efficient risk-return conservation outcomes in the Prairie Pothole Region. The difference in expected conservation returns between conservation planning with limited climate-change information and full climate-change information was as large as 30% for the Prairie Pothole Region even when the most efficient iterative approach was used. However, our iterative approach allowed finer resolution portfolio allocation with limited climate-change forecasts such that the best possible risk-return combinations were obtained. With our most efficient iterative approach, the expected loss in conservation outcomes owing to limited climate-change information could be reduced by 17% relative to other iterative approaches. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

A standard lexicon for biodiversity conservation: unified classifications of threats and actions.

PubMed

Salafsky, Nick; Salzer, Daniel; Stattersfield, Alison J; Hilton-Taylor, Craig; Neugarten, Rachel; Butchart, Stuart H M; Collen, Ben; Cox, Neil; Master, Lawrence L; O'Connor, Sheila; Wilkie, David

2008-08-01

An essential foundation of any science is a standard lexicon. Any given conservation project can be described in terms of the biodiversity targets, direct threats, contributing factors at the project site, and the conservation actions that the project team is employing to change the situation. These common elements can be linked in a causal chain, which represents a theory of change about how the conservation actions are intended to bring about desired project outcomes. If project teams want to describe and share their work and learn from one another, they need a standard and precise lexicon to specifically describe each node along this chain. To date, there have been several independent efforts to develop standard classifications for the direct threats that affect biodiversity and the conservation actions required to counteract these threats. Recognizing that it is far more effective to have only one accepted global scheme, we merged these separate efforts into unified classifications of threats and actions, which we present here. Each classification is a hierarchical listing of terms and associated definitions. The classifications are comprehensive and exclusive at the upper levels of the hierarchy, expandable at the lower levels, and simple, consistent, and scalable at all levels. We tested these classifications by applying them post hoc to 1191 threatened bird species and 737 conservation projects. Almost all threats and actions could be assigned to the new classification systems, save for some cases lacking detailed information. Furthermore, the new classification systems provided an improved way of analyzing and comparing information across projects when compared with earlier systems. We believe that widespread adoption of these classifications will help practitioners more systematically identify threats and appropriate actions, managers to more efficiently set priorities and allocate resources, and most important, facilitate cross-project learning and the development of a systematic science of conservation.

76 FR 71835 - Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Direct Heating Equipment

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-11-18

... Log Sets b. Vented Hearth Products C. National Energy Savings D. Other Comments 1. Test Procedures 2... address vented gas log sets. DOE clarified its position on vented gas log sets in a document published on... vented gas log sets are included in the definition of ``vented hearth heater''; DOE has reached this...

Prioritization based on neutral genetic diversity may fail to conserve important characteristics in cattle breeds.

PubMed

Hall, S J G; Lenstra, J A; Deeming, D C

2012-06-01

Conservation of the intraspecific genetic diversity of livestock species requires protocols that assess between-breed genetic variability and also take into account differences among individuals within breeds. Here, we focus on variation between breeds. Conservation of neutral genetic variation has been seen as promoting, through linkage processes, the retention of useful and potentially useful variation. Using public information on beef cattle breeds, with a total of 165 data sets each relating to a breed comparison of a performance variable, we have tested this paradigm by calculating the correlations between pairwise breed differences in performance and pairwise genetic distances deduced from biochemical and immunological polymorphisms, microsatellites and single-nucleotide polymorphisms. As already observed in floral and faunal biodiversity, significant positive correlations (n=54) were found, but many correlations were non-significant (n=100) or significantly negative (n=11). This implies that maximizing conserved neutral genetic variation with current techniques may conserve breed-level genetic variation in some traits but not in others and supports the view that genetic distance measurements based on neutral genetic variation are not sufficient as a determinant of conservation priority among breeds. © 2011 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Ecosystem Services and Opportunity Costs Shift Spatial Priorities for Conserving Forest Biodiversity

PubMed Central

Schröter, Matthias; Rusch, Graciela M.; Barton, David N.; Blumentrath, Stefan; Nordén, Björn

2014-01-01

Inclusion of spatially explicit information on ecosystem services in conservation planning is a fairly new practice. This study analyses how the incorporation of ecosystem services as conservation features can affect conservation of forest biodiversity and how different opportunity cost constraints can change spatial priorities for conservation. We created spatially explicit cost-effective conservation scenarios for 59 forest biodiversity features and five ecosystem services in the county of Telemark (Norway) with the help of the heuristic optimisation planning software, Marxan with Zones. We combined a mix of conservation instruments where forestry is either completely (non-use zone) or partially restricted (partial use zone). Opportunity costs were measured in terms of foregone timber harvest, an important provisioning service in Telemark. Including a number of ecosystem services shifted priority conservation sites compared to a case where only biodiversity was considered, and increased the area of both the partial (+36.2%) and the non-use zone (+3.2%). Furthermore, opportunity costs increased (+6.6%), which suggests that ecosystem services may not be a side-benefit of biodiversity conservation in this area. Opportunity cost levels were systematically changed to analyse their effect on spatial conservation priorities. Conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services trades off against timber harvest. Currently designated nature reserves and landscape protection areas achieve a very low proportion (9.1%) of the conservation targets we set in our scenario, which illustrates the high importance given to timber production at present. A trade-off curve indicated that large marginal increases in conservation target achievement are possible when the budget for conservation is increased. Forty percent of the maximum hypothetical opportunity costs would yield an average conservation target achievement of 79%. PMID:25393951

Ecosystem services and opportunity costs shift spatial priorities for conserving forest biodiversity.

PubMed

Schröter, Matthias; Rusch, Graciela M; Barton, David N; Blumentrath, Stefan; Nordén, Björn

2014-01-01

Inclusion of spatially explicit information on ecosystem services in conservation planning is a fairly new practice. This study analyses how the incorporation of ecosystem services as conservation features can affect conservation of forest biodiversity and how different opportunity cost constraints can change spatial priorities for conservation. We created spatially explicit cost-effective conservation scenarios for 59 forest biodiversity features and five ecosystem services in the county of Telemark (Norway) with the help of the heuristic optimisation planning software, Marxan with Zones. We combined a mix of conservation instruments where forestry is either completely (non-use zone) or partially restricted (partial use zone). Opportunity costs were measured in terms of foregone timber harvest, an important provisioning service in Telemark. Including a number of ecosystem services shifted priority conservation sites compared to a case where only biodiversity was considered, and increased the area of both the partial (+36.2%) and the non-use zone (+3.2%). Furthermore, opportunity costs increased (+6.6%), which suggests that ecosystem services may not be a side-benefit of biodiversity conservation in this area. Opportunity cost levels were systematically changed to analyse their effect on spatial conservation priorities. Conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services trades off against timber harvest. Currently designated nature reserves and landscape protection areas achieve a very low proportion (9.1%) of the conservation targets we set in our scenario, which illustrates the high importance given to timber production at present. A trade-off curve indicated that large marginal increases in conservation target achievement are possible when the budget for conservation is increased. Forty percent of the maximum hypothetical opportunity costs would yield an average conservation target achievement of 79%.

Habitat evaluation of wild Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) and conservation priority setting in north-eastern China.

PubMed

Xiaofeng, Luan; Yi, Qu; Diqiang, Li; Shirong, Liu; Xiulei, Wang; Bo, Wu; Chunquan, Zhu

2011-01-01

The Amur Tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) is one of the world's most endangered species. Recently, habitat fragmentation, food scarcity and human hunting have drastically reduced the population size and distribution areas of Amur tigers in the wild, leaving them on the verge of extinction. Presently, they are only found in the north-eastern part of China. In this study, we developed a reference framework using methods and technologies of analytic hierarchy process (AHP), remote sensing (RS), geographic information system (GIS), GAP analysis and Natural Break (Jenks) classification to evaluate the habitat and to set the conservation priorities for Amur tigers in eastern areas of Heilongjiang and Jilin Provinces of northeast China. We proposed a Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) incorporating 7 factors covering natural conditions and human disturbance. Based on the HSI values, the suitability was classified into five levels from the most to not suitable. Finally, according to results of GAP analysis, we identified six conservation priorities and designed a conservation landscape incorporating four new nature reserves, enlarging two existing ones, and creating four linkages for Amur tigers in northeast China. The case study showed that the core habitats (the most suitable and highly suitable habitats) identified for Amur tigers covered 35,547 km(2), accounting for approximately 26.71% of the total study area (1,33,093 km(2)). However, existing nature reserves protected only (7124 km(2) or) 20.04% of the identified core habitats. Thus, enlargement of current reserves is necessary and urgent for the tiger's conservation and restoration. Moreover, the establishment of wildlife corridors linking core habitats will provide an efficient reserve network for tiger conservation to maintain the evolutionary potential of Amur tigers facing environmental changes. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Conservation Learning in Wildlife Tourism Settings: Lessons from Research in Zoos and Aquariums

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ballantyne, Roy; Packer, Jan; Hughes, Karen; Dierking, Lynn

2007-01-01

Zoos and aquariums have shifted their focus over recent years, taking a much more active role in wildlife conservation and in promoting conservation learning among their visitors. Research in these settings provides a valuable foundation for the emerging field of non-captive wildlife tourism. In particular, valuable lessons regarding the potential…

Web Platform for Sharing Spatial Data and Manipulating Them Online

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bachelet, Dominique; Comendant, Tosha; Strittholt, Jim

2011-04-01

To fill the need for readily accessible conservation-relevant spatial data sets, the Conservation Biology Institute (CBI) launched in 2010 a Web-based platform called Data Basin (http://www.databasin.org). It is the first custom application of ArcGIS technology, which provides Web access to free maps and imagery using the most current version of Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI; http://www.esri.com/) geographic information system (GIS) software, and its core functionality is being made freely available. Data Basin includes spatial data sets (Arc format shapefiles and grids, or layer packages) that can be biological (e.g., prairie dog range), physical (e.g., average summer temperature, 1950-2000), or socioeconomic (e.g., locations of Alaska oil and gas wells); based on observations as well as on simulation results; and of local to global relevance. They can be uploaded, downloaded, or simply visualized. Maps (overlays of multiple data sets) can be created and customized (e.g., western Massachusetts protected areas, time series of the Deep Water Horizon oil spill). Galleries are folders containing data sets and maps focusing on a theme (e.g., sea level rise projections for the Pacific Northwest region from the National Wildlife Federation, soil data sets for the conterminous United States).

Fine‐resolution conservation planning with limited climate‐change information

USGS Publications Warehouse

Shah, Payal; Mallory, Mindy L.; Ando , Amy W.; Guntenspergen, Glenn R.

2017-01-01

Climate‐change induced uncertainties in future spatial patterns of conservation‐related outcomes make it difficult to implement standard conservation‐planning paradigms. A recent study translates Markowitz's risk‐diversification strategy from finance to conservation settings, enabling conservation agents to use this diversification strategy for allocating conservation and restoration investments across space to minimize the risk associated with such uncertainty. However, this method is information intensive and requires a large number of forecasts of ecological outcomes associated with possible climate‐change scenarios for carrying out fine‐resolution conservation planning. We developed a technique for iterative, spatial portfolio analysis that can be used to allocate scarce conservation resources across a desired level of subregions in a planning landscape in the absence of a sufficient number of ecological forecasts. We applied our technique to the Prairie Pothole Region in central North America. A lack of sufficient future climate information prevented attainment of the most efficient risk‐return conservation outcomes in the Prairie Pothole Region. The difference in expected conservation returns between conservation planning with limited climate‐change information and full climate‐change information was as large as 30% for the Prairie Pothole Region even when the most efficient iterative approach was used. However, our iterative approach allowed finer resolution portfolio allocation with limited climate‐change forecasts such that the best possible risk‐return combinations were obtained. With our most efficient iterative approach, the expected loss in conservation outcomes owing to limited climate‐change information could be reduced by 17% relative to other iterative approaches.

Conservation Compromises: The MAB and the Legacy of the International Biological Program, 1964-1974.

PubMed

Schleper, Simone

2017-02-01

This article looks at the International Biological Program (IBP) as the predecessor of UNESCO's well-known and highly successful Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB). It argues that international conservation efforts of the 1970s, such as the MAB, must in fact be understood as a compound of two opposing attempts to reform international conservation in the 1960s. The scientific framework of the MAB has its origins in disputes between high-level conservationists affiliated with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) about what the IBP meant for the future of conservation. Their respective visions entailed different ecological philosophies as much as diverging sets of political ideologies regarding the global implementation of conservation. Within the IBP's Conservation Section, one group propagated a universal systems approach to conservation with a centralized, technocratic management of nature and society by an elite group of independent scientific experts. Within IUCN, a second group based their notion of environmental expert roles on a more descriptive and local ecology of resource mapping as practiced by UNESCO. When the IBP came to an end in 1974, both groups' ecological philosophies played into the scientific framework underlying the MAB's World Network or Biosphere Reserves. The article argues that it is impossible to understand the course of conservation within the MAB without studying the dynamics and discourses between the two underlying expert groups and their respective visions for reforming conservation.

Taxonomic and regional uncertainty in species-area relationships and the identification of richness hotspots

PubMed Central

Guilhaumon, François; Gimenez, Olivier; Gaston, Kevin J.; Mouillot, David

2008-01-01

Species-area relationships (SARs) are fundamental to the study of key and high-profile issues in conservation biology and are particularly widely used in establishing the broad patterns of biodiversity that underpin approaches to determining priority areas for biological conservation. Classically, the SAR has been argued in general to conform to a power-law relationship, and this form has been widely assumed in most applications in the field of conservation biology. Here, using nonlinear regressions within an information theoretical model selection framework, we included uncertainty regarding both model selection and parameter estimation in SAR modeling and conducted a global-scale analysis of the form of SARs for vascular plants and major vertebrate groups across 792 terrestrial ecoregions representing almost 97% of Earth's inhabited land. The results revealed a high level of uncertainty in model selection across biomes and taxa, and that the power-law model is clearly the most appropriate in only a minority of cases. Incorporating this uncertainty into a hotspots analysis using multimodel SARs led to the identification of a dramatically different set of global richness hotspots than when the power-law SAR was assumed. Our findings suggest that the results of analyses that assume a power-law model may be at severe odds with real ecological patterns, raising significant concerns for conservation priority-setting schemes and biogeographical studies. PMID:18832179

Numerical Simulation of Hydrodynamics of a Heavy Liquid Drop Covered by Vapor Film in a Water Pool

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ma, W.M.; Yang, Z.L.; Giri, A.

2002-07-01

A numerical study on the hydrodynamics of a droplet covered by vapor film in water pool is carried out. Two level set functions are used as to implicitly capture the interfaces among three immiscible fluids (melt-drop, vapor and coolant). This approach leaves only one set of conservation equations for the three phases. A high-order Navier-Stokes solver, called Cubic-Interpolated Pseudo-Particle (CIP) algorithm, is employed in combination with level set approach, which allows large density ratios (up to 1000), surface tension and jump in viscosity. By this calculation, the hydrodynamic behavior of a melt droplet falling into a volatile coolant is simulated,more » which is of great significance to reveal the mechanism of steam explosion during a hypothetical severe reactor accident. (authors)« less

Intergenerational equity and conservation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Otoole, R. P.; Walton, A. L.

1980-01-01

The issue of integenerational equity in the use of natural resources is discussed in the context of coal mining conversion. An attempt to determine if there is a clear-cut benefit to future generations in setting minimum coal extraction efficiency standards in mining is made. It is demonstrated that preserving fossil fuels beyond the economically efficient level is not necessarily beneficial to future generations even in terms of their own preferences. Setting fossil fuel conservation targets for intermediate products (i.e. energy) may increase the quantities of fossil fuels available to future generations and hence lower the costs, but there may be serious disadvantages to future generations as well. The use of relatively inexpensive fossil fuels in this generation may result in more infrastructure development and more knowledge production available to future generations. The value of fossil fuels versus these other endowments in the future depends on many factors which cannot possibly be evaluated at present. Since there is no idea of whether future generations are being helped or harmed, it is recommended that integenerational equity not be used as a factor in setting coal mine extraction efficiency standards, or in establishing requirements.

Sequence Diversity Diagram for comparative analysis of multiple sequence alignments.

PubMed

Sakai, Ryo; Aerts, Jan

2014-01-01

The sequence logo is a graphical representation of a set of aligned sequences, commonly used to depict conservation of amino acid or nucleotide sequences. Although it effectively communicates the amount of information present at every position, this visual representation falls short when the domain task is to compare between two or more sets of aligned sequences. We present a new visual presentation called a Sequence Diversity Diagram and validate our design choices with a case study. Our software was developed using the open-source program called Processing. It loads multiple sequence alignment FASTA files and a configuration file, which can be modified as needed to change the visualization. The redesigned figure improves on the visual comparison of two or more sets, and it additionally encodes information on sequential position conservation. In our case study of the adenylate kinase lid domain, the Sequence Diversity Diagram reveals unexpected patterns and new insights, for example the identification of subgroups within the protein subfamily. Our future work will integrate this visual encoding into interactive visualization tools to support higher level data exploration tasks.

Landscape and climate science and scenarios for Florida

USGS Publications Warehouse

Terando, Adam; Traxler, Steve; Collazo, Jaime

2014-01-01

The Peninsular Florida Landscape Conservation Cooperative (PFLCC) is part of a network of 22 Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) that extend from Alaska to the Caribbean. LCCs are regional-applied conservation-science partnerships among Federal agencies, regional organizations, States, tribes, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), private stakeholders, universities, and other entities within a geographic area. The goal of these conservation-science partnerships is to help inform managers and decision makers at a landscape scale to further the principles of adaptive management and strategic habitat conservation. A major focus for LCCs is to help conservation managers and decision makers respond to large-scale ecosystem and habitat stressors, such as climate change, habitat fragmentation, invasive species, and water scarcity. The purpose of the PFLCC is to facilitate planning, design, and implementation of conservation strategies for fish and wildlife species at the landscape level using the adaptive management framework of strategic habitat conservation—integrating planning, design, delivery, and evaluation. Florida faces a set of unique challenges when responding to regional and global stressors because of its unique ecosystems and assemblages of species, its geographic location at the crossroads of temperate and tropical climates, and its exposure to both rapid urbanization and rising sea levels as the climate warms. In response to these challenges, several landscape-scale science projects were initiated with the goal of informing decision makers about how potential changes in climate and the built environment could impact habitats and ecosystems of concern in Florida and the Southeast United States. In June 2012, the PFLCC, North Carolina State University, convened a workshop at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Science Center in St. Petersburg to assess the results of these integrated assessments and to foster an open dialogue about science gaps and future research needs.

Conservation-form equations of unsteady open-channel flow

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lai, C.; Baltzer, R.A.; Schaffranek, R.W.

2002-01-01

The unsteady open-channel flow equations are typically expressed in a variety of forms due to the imposition of differing assumptions, use of varied dependent variables, and inclusion of different source/sink terms. Questions often arise as to whether a particular equation set is expressed in a form consistent with the conservation-law definition. The concept of conservation form is developed to clarify the meaning mathematically. Six sets of unsteady-flow equations typically used in engineering practice are presented and their conservation properties are identified and discussed. Results of the theoretical development and analysis of the equations are substantiated in a set of numerical experiments conducted using alternate equation forms. Findings of these analytical and numerical efforts demonstrate that the choice of dependent variable is the fundamental factor determining the nature of the conservation properties of any particular equation form.

Application of the Red-List Index at a national level for multiple species groups.

PubMed

Juslén, Aino; Hyvärinen, Esko; Virtanen, Laura K

2013-04-01

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List Index (RLI) is recognized as one of the key indicators of trends in the status of species. The red-list assessment done by Finnish authorities of species in Finland is taxonomically one of the most extensive national assessments. We used the Finnish Red Lists from 2000 and 2010 to calculate for the first time the national RLIs for 11 taxonomic groups at different trophic levels and with different life cycles. The red-list index is calculated on the basis of changes in red-list categories and indicates trends in the status of biological diversity of sets of species. The RLI value ranges from 0 to 1. The lower the value the faster the set of species is heading toward extinction. If the value is 1, all species in the set are least concern and if the value is 0, all species are (regionally) extinct. The overall RLI of Finnish species decreased. This means that, in Finland, these taxonomic groups were heading toward extinction faster in 2010 than in 2000. Of the analyzed groups of organisms, RLIs of 5 decreased and RLIs of 6 increased. At the national level, the RLIs and status trends varied markedly between species groups. Thus, we concluded that generalizations on the basis of RLIs of a few taxa only may yield a biased view of ongoing trends in the status of biological diversity at the species level. In addition, one overall RLI that includes many different species groups may also be misleading if variation in RLI among species groups is not considered and if RLI values are not presented separately for each group. © 2013 Society for Conservation Biology.

Ecological sustainability as the fourth landmark in the development of conservation ethics.

PubMed

White, Peter S; Tuttle, Julie P

2013-10-01

Aldo Leopold, in "The Land Ethic," made 2 important contributions to conservation ethics: he emphasized the community and ecosystem levels of organization and he explicitly included people as members of the biotic community. Leopold's writings remain eloquent, inspirational, and influential, but the ideas he describes are inherently complex, and ecological science has continued to evolve since "The Land Ethic" was published in 1949. We used 4 sets of quotations from Leopold's essays to develop our commentary on the meaning of and challenges in interpreting his work and to explore the ongoing development of conservation ethics: the "A-B cleavage" (Leopold's description of the contrast between utilitarian value versus a broader definition of value in nature), "land health" and the rightness of human action, the right of all species to continued existence in natural populations "at least in spots," and humans as "plain member[s] and citizen[s]" of the "land-community." We define the broader function of land and land health in "The Land Ethic" as including completeness, dynamic stability, and self-renewal in a way that incorporates the needs of humans and all other species. We argue that the consequences of implementing Leopold's land ethic include multiple conservation goals nested within an overall systems approach and that conservation science must clarify the implications of Leopold's ethic by quantitatively investigating and defining large-scale, system-level ecological sustainability. At this scale, land use will encompass areas ranging from large expanses of wilderness to areas dominated by humans. © 2013 Society for Conservation Biology.

10 CFR 430.60 - Purpose and scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... OF ENERGY ENERGY CONSERVATION ENERGY CONSERVATION PROGRAM FOR CONSUMER PRODUCTS Certification and... applicable energy conservation standard or water conservation standard (in the case of faucets, showerheads, water closets, and urinals) set forth in subpart C of this part. Energy conservation standards and water...

10 CFR 430.60 - Purpose and scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... OF ENERGY ENERGY CONSERVATION ENERGY CONSERVATION PROGRAM FOR CONSUMER PRODUCTS Certification and... applicable energy conservation standard or water conservation standard (in the case of faucets, showerheads, water closets, and urinals) set forth in subpart C of this part. Energy conservation standards and water...

Global Conservation Priorities for Marine Turtles

PubMed Central

Wallace, Bryan P.; DiMatteo, Andrew D.; Bolten, Alan B.; Chaloupka, Milani Y.; Hutchinson, Brian J.; Abreu-Grobois, F. Alberto; Mortimer, Jeanne A.; Seminoff, Jeffrey A.; Amorocho, Diego; Bjorndal, Karen A.; Bourjea, Jérôme; Bowen, Brian W.; Briseño Dueñas, Raquel; Casale, Paolo; Choudhury, B. C.; Costa, Alice; Dutton, Peter H.; Fallabrino, Alejandro; Finkbeiner, Elena M.; Girard, Alexandre; Girondot, Marc; Hamann, Mark; Hurley, Brendan J.; López-Mendilaharsu, Milagros; Marcovaldi, Maria Angela; Musick, John A.; Nel, Ronel; Pilcher, Nicolas J.; Troëng, Sebastian; Witherington, Blair; Mast, Roderic B.

2011-01-01

Where conservation resources are limited and conservation targets are diverse, robust yet flexible priority-setting frameworks are vital. Priority-setting is especially important for geographically widespread species with distinct populations subject to multiple threats that operate on different spatial and temporal scales. Marine turtles are widely distributed and exhibit intra-specific variations in population sizes and trends, as well as reproduction and morphology. However, current global extinction risk assessment frameworks do not assess conservation status of spatially and biologically distinct marine turtle Regional Management Units (RMUs), and thus do not capture variations in population trends, impacts of threats, or necessary conservation actions across individual populations. To address this issue, we developed a new assessment framework that allowed us to evaluate, compare and organize marine turtle RMUs according to status and threats criteria. Because conservation priorities can vary widely (i.e. from avoiding imminent extinction to maintaining long-term monitoring efforts) we developed a “conservation priorities portfolio” system using categories of paired risk and threats scores for all RMUs (n = 58). We performed these assessments and rankings globally, by species, by ocean basin, and by recognized geopolitical bodies to identify patterns in risk, threats, and data gaps at different scales. This process resulted in characterization of risk and threats to all marine turtle RMUs, including identification of the world's 11 most endangered marine turtle RMUs based on highest risk and threats scores. This system also highlighted important gaps in available information that is crucial for accurate conservation assessments. Overall, this priority-setting framework can provide guidance for research and conservation priorities at multiple relevant scales, and should serve as a model for conservation status assessments and priority-setting for widespread, long-lived taxa. PMID:21969858

Reproductive isolation, evolutionary distinctiveness and setting conservation priorities: The case of European lake whitefish and the endangered North Sea houting (Coregonus spp.)

PubMed Central

2008-01-01

Background Adaptive radiation within fishes of the Coregonus lavaretus complex has created numerous morphs, posing significant challenges for taxonomy and conservation priorities. The highly endangered North Sea houting (C. oxyrhynchus; abbreviated NSH) has been considered a separate species from European lake whitefish (C. lavaretus; abbreviated ELW) due to morphological divergence and adaptation to oceanic salinities. However, its evolutionary and taxonomic status is controversial. We analysed microsatellite DNA polymorphism in nine populations from the Jutland Peninsula and the Baltic Sea, representing NSH (three populations, two of which are reintroduced) and ELW (six populations). The objectives were to: 1) analyse postglacial recolonization of whitefish in the region; 2) assess the evolutionary distinctiveness of NSH, and 3) apply several approaches for defining conservation units towards setting conservation priorities for NSH. Results Bayesian cluster analyses of genetic differentiation identified four major groups, corresponding to NSH and three groups of ELW (Western Jutland, Central Jutland, Baltic Sea). Estimates of historical migration rates indicated recolonization in a north-eastern direction, suggesting that all except the Baltic Sea population predominantly represent postglacial recolonization via the ancient Elbe River. Contemporary gene flow has not occurred between NSH and ELW, with a divergence time within the last 4,000 years suggested from coalescence methods. NSH showed interbreeding with ELW when brought into contact by stocking. Thus, reproductive isolation of NSH was not absolute, although possible interbreeding beyond the F1 level could not be resolved. Conclusion Fishes of the C. lavaretus complex in the Jutland Peninsula originate from the same recolonization event. NSH has evolved recently and its species status may be questioned due to incomplete reproductive isolation from ELW, but it was shown to merit consideration as an independent conservation unit. Yet, application of several approaches for defining conservation units generated mixed outcomes regarding its conservation priority. Within the total species complex, it remains one among many recently evolved unique forms. Its uniqueness and high conservation priority is more evident at a local geographical scale, where conservation efforts will also benefit populations of a number of other endangered species. PMID:18471278

Future battlegrounds for conservation under global change

PubMed Central

Lee, Tien Ming; Jetz, Walter

2008-01-01

Global biodiversity is under significant threat from the combined effects of human-induced climate and land-use change. Covering 12% of the Earth's terrestrial surface, protected areas are crucial for conserving biodiversity and supporting ecological processes beneficial to human well-being, but their selection and design are usually uninformed about future global change. Here, we quantify the exposure of the global reserve network to projected climate and land-use change according to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and set these threats in relation to the conservation value and capacity of biogeographic and geopolitical regions. We find that geographical patterns of past human impact on the land cover only poorly predict those of forecasted change, thus revealing the inadequacy of existing global conservation prioritization templates. Projected conservation risk, measured as regional levels of land-cover change in relation to area protected, is the greatest at high latitudes (due to climate change) and tropics/subtropics (due to land-use change). Only some high-latitude nations prone to high conservation risk are also of high conservation value, but their high relative wealth may facilitate additional conservation efforts. In contrast, most low-latitude nations tend to be of high conservation value, but they often have limited capacity for conservation which may exacerbate the global biodiversity extinction crisis. While our approach will clearly benefit from improved land-cover projections and a thorough understanding of how species range will shift under climate change, our results provide a first global quantitative demonstration of the urgent need to consider future environmental change in reserve-based conservation planning. They further highlight the pressing need for new reserves in target regions and support a much extended ‘north–south’ transfer of conservation resources that maximizes biodiversity conservation while mitigating global climate change. PMID:18302999

Pollinator limitation and the effect of breeding systems on plant reproduction in forest fragments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nayak, K. Geetha; Davidar, Priya

2010-03-01

Reproduction of plants in fragmented habitats may be limited because of lower diversity or abundance of pollinators, and/or variation in local plant density. We assessed natural fruit set and pollinator limitation in ten species of woody plants in natural and restored fragments in the Pondicherry region of southern India, to see whether breeding system of plants (self-compatible and self-incompatible) affected fruit set. We tested whether the number of flowering individuals in the fragments affected the fruit set and further examined the adult and sapling densities of self-compatible (SC) and self-incompatible (SI) species. We measured the natural level of fruit set and pollinator limitation (calculated as the difference in fruit set between hand cross-pollinated and naturally pollinated flowers). Our results demonstrate that there was a higher level of pollinator limitation and hence lower levels of natural fruit set in self-incompatible species as compared to self-compatible species. However, the hand cross-pollinated flowers in SC and SI species produced similar levels of fruit set, further indicating that lower fruit set was due to pollinator limitation and not due to lack of cross-compatible individuals in the fragments. There was no significant relation between number of flowering individuals and the levels of natural fruit set, except for two species Derris ovalifolia, Ixora pavetta. In these species the natural fruit set decreased with increasing population size, again indicating pollinator limitation. The adult and sapling densities in self-compatible species were significantly higher than in self-incompatible species. These findings indicate that the low reproductive output in self-incompatible species may eventually lead to lower population sizes. Restoration of pollinator services along with plant species in fragmented habitats is important for the long-term conservation of biodiversity.

Heterochromatin assembly and transcriptome repression by Set1 in coordination with a class II histone deacetylase

PubMed Central

Lorenz, David R; Meyer, Lauren F; Grady, Patrick J R; Meyer, Michelle M; Cam, Hugh P

2014-01-01

Histone modifiers play essential roles in controlling transcription and organizing eukaryotic genomes into functional domains. Here, we show that Set1, the catalytic subunit of the highly conserved Set1C/COMPASS complex responsible for histone H3K4 methylation (H3K4me), behaves as a repressor of the transcriptome largely independent of Set1C and H3K4me in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Intriguingly, while Set1 is enriched at highly expressed and repressed loci, Set1 binding levels do not generally correlate with the levels of transcription. We show that Set1 is recruited by the ATF/CREB homolog Atf1 to heterochromatic loci and promoters of stress-response genes. Moreover, we demonstrate that Set1 coordinates with the class II histone deacetylase Clr3 in heterochromatin assembly at prominent chromosomal landmarks and repression of the transcriptome that includes Tf2 retrotransposons, noncoding RNAs, and regulators of development and stress-responses. Our study delineates a molecular framework for elucidating the functional links between transcriptome control and chromatin organization. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.04506.001 PMID:25497836

A two-scale model of radio-frequency electrosurgical tissue ablation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karaki, Wafaa; Rahul; Lopez, Carlos A.; Borca-Tasciuc, Diana-Andra; De, Suvranu

2017-12-01

Radio-frequency electrosurgical procedures are widely used to simultaneously dissect and coagulate tissue. Experiments suggest that evaporation of cellular and intra-cellular water plays a significant role in the evolution of the temperature field at the tissue level, which is not adequately captured in a single scale energy balance equation. Here, we propose a two-scale model to study the effects of microscale phase change and heat dissipation in response to radiofrequency heating on the tissue level in electrosurgical ablation procedures. At the microscale, the conservation of mass along with thermodynamic and mechanical equilibrium is applied to obtain an equation-of-state relating vapor mass fraction to temperature and pressure. The evaporation losses are incorporated in the macro-level energy conservation and results are validated with mean experimental temperature distributions measured from electrosurgical ablation testing on ex vivo porcine liver at different power settings of the electrosurgical instrument. Model prediction of water loss and its effect on the temperature along with the effect of the mechanical properties on results are evaluated and discussed.

Climate Change Adaptation: Putting Principles into Practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ausden, Malcolm

2014-10-01

Carrying out wildlife conservation in a changing climate requires planning on long timescales at both a site and network level, while also having the flexibility to adapt actions at sites over short timescales in response to changing conditions and new information. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), a land-owning wildlife conservation charity in the UK, achieves this on its nature reserves through its system of management planning. This involves setting network-wide objectives which inform the 25-year vision and 5-year conservation objectives for each site. Progress toward achieving each site's conservation objectives is reviewed annually, to identify any adjustments which might be needed to the site's management. The conservation objectives and 25-year vision of each site are reviewed every 5 years. Significant long-term impacts of climate change most frequently identified at RSPB reserves are: loss of intertidal habitat through coastal squeeze, loss of low-lying islands due to higher sea levels and coastal erosion, loss of coastal freshwater and brackish wetlands due to increased coastal flooding, and changes in the hydrology of wetlands. The main types of adaptation measures in place on RSPB reserves to address climate change-related impacts are: re-creation of intertidal habitat, re-creation and restoration of freshwater wetlands away from vulnerable coastal areas, blocking artificial drainage on peatlands, and addressing pressures on freshwater supply for lowland wet grasslands in eastern and southeastern England. Developing partnerships between organizations has been crucial in delivering large-scale adaptation projects.

Application of models to conservation planning for terrestrial birds in North America

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fitzgerald, Jane A.; Thogmartin, Wayne E.; Dettmers, Randy; Jones, Tim; Rustay, Christopher; Ruth, Janet M.; Thompson, Frank R.; Will, Tom; Millspaugh, Joshua J.; Thompson, Frank R.

2009-01-01

Partners in Flight (PIF), a public–private coalition for the conservation of land birds, has developed one of four international bird conservation plans recognized under the auspices of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI). Partners in Flight prioritized species most in need of conservation attention and set range-wide population goals for 448 species of terrestrial birds. Partnerships are now tasked with developing spatially explicit estimates of the distribution, and abundance of priority species across large ecoregions and identifying habitat acreages needed to support populations at prescribed levels. The PIF Five Elements process of conservation design identifies five steps needed to implement all bird conservation at the ecoregional scale. Habitat assessment and landscape characterization describe the current amounts of different habitat types and summarize patch characteristics, and landscape configurations that define the ability of a landscape to sustain healthy bird populations and are a valuable first step to describing the planning area before pursuing more complex species-specific models. Spatially linked database models, landscape-scale habitat suitability models, and statistical models are viable alternatives for predicting habitat suitability or bird abundance across large planning areas to help assess conservation opportunities, design landscapes to meet population objectives, and monitor change in habitat suitability or bird numbers over time.Bird conservation in the United States is a good example of the use of models in large-scale wildlife conservation planning because of its geographic extent, focus on multiple species, involvement of multiple partners, and use of simple to complex models. We provide some background on the recent development of bird conservation initiatives in the United States and the approaches used for regional conservation assessment and planning. We focus on approaches being used for landscape characterization and assessment, and bird population response modeling.

Ancestral synteny shared between distantly-related plant species from the asterid (Coffea canephora and Solanum Sp.) and rosid (Vitis vinifera) clades

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Coffee trees (Rubiaceae) and tomato (Solanaceae) belong to the Asterid clade, while grapevine (Vitaceae) belongs to the Rosid clade. Coffee and tomato separated from grapevine 125 million years ago, while coffee and tomato diverged 83-89 million years ago. These long periods of divergent evolution should have permitted the genomes to reorganize significantly. So far, very few comparative mappings have been performed between very distantly related species belonging to different clades. We report the first multiple comparison between species from Asterid and Rosid clades, to examine both macro-and microsynteny relationships. Results Thanks to a set of 867 COSII markers, macrosynteny was detected between coffee, tomato and grapevine. While coffee and tomato genomes share 318 orthologous markers and 27 conserved syntenic segments (CSSs), coffee and grapevine also share a similar number of syntenic markers and CSSs: 299 and 29 respectively. Despite large genome macrostructure reorganization, several large chromosome segments showed outstanding macrosynteny shedding new insights into chromosome evolution between Asterids and Rosids. We also analyzed a sequence of 174 kb containing the ovate gene, conserved in a syntenic block between coffee, tomato and grapevine that showed a high-level of microstructure conservation. A higher level of conservation was observed between coffee and grapevine, both woody and long life-cycle plants, than between coffee and tomato. Out of 16 coffee genes of this syntenic segment, 7 and 14 showed complete synteny between coffee and tomato or grapevine, respectively. Conclusions These results show that significant conservation is found between distantly related species from the Asterid (Coffea canephora and Solanum sp.) and Rosid (Vitis vinifera) clades, at the genome macrostructure and microstructure levels. At the ovate locus, conservation did not decline in relation to increasing phylogenetic distance, suggesting that the time factor alone does not explain divergences. Our results are considerably useful for syntenic studies between supposedly remote species for the isolation of important genes for agronomy. PMID:22433423

78 FR 79649 - Energy Conservation Program: Proposed Determination of Set-Top Boxes and Network Equipment as a...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-12-31

... Conservation Program: Proposed Determination of Set-Top Boxes and Network Equipment as a Covered Consumer... published June 15, 2011 that set-top boxes (STBs) and network equipment qualify as a covered product under... action in light of a consensus agreement entered by a broadly representative group that DOE believes has...

76 FR 34914 - Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products and Certain Commercial and Industrial Equipment...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-15

... Commercial and Industrial Equipment: Proposed Determination of Set-Top Boxes and Network Equipment as a... that set-top boxes and network equipment qualify as a covered product under Part A of Title III of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA), as amended. DOE has determined that set-top boxes and network...

Ecosystem vulnerability to climate change in the southeastern United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cartwright, Jennifer M.; Costanza, Jennifer

2016-08-11

Two recent investigations of climate-change vulnerability for 19 terrestrial, aquatic, riparian, and coastal ecosystems of the southeastern United States have identified a number of important considerations, including potential for changes in hydrology, disturbance regimes, and interspecies interactions. Complementary approaches using geospatial analysis and literature synthesis integrated information on ecosystem biogeography and biodiversity, climate projections, vegetation dynamics, soil and water characteristics, anthropogenic threats, conservation status, sea-level rise, and coastal flooding impacts. Across a diverse set of ecosystems—ranging in size from dozens of square meters to thousands of square kilometers—quantitative and qualitative assessments identified types of climate-change exposure, evaluated sensitivity, and explored potential adaptive capacity. These analyses highlighted key gaps in scientific understanding and suggested priorities for future research. Together, these studies help create a foundation for ecosystem-level analysis of climate-change vulnerability to support effective biodiversity conservation in the southeastern United States.

A quantitative analysis on the effects of critical factors limiting the effectiveness of species conservation in future time.

PubMed

Alagador, Diogo; Cerdeira, Jorge Orestes

2018-03-01

The effectiveness of conservation plans depends on environmental, ecological, and socioeconomic factors. Global change makes conservation decisions even more challenging. Among others, the components of most concern in modern-day conservation assessments are as follows: the magnitude of climate and land-use changes; species dispersal abilities; competition with harmful socioeconomic activities for land use; the number of threatened species to consider; and, relatedly, the available budget to act. Here, we provide a unified framework that quantifies the relative effects of those factors on conservation. We conducted an area-scheduling work plan in order to identify sets of areas along time in which the persistence expectancies of species are optimized. The approach was illustrated using data of potential distribution of ten nonvolant mammal species in Iberia Peninsula from current time up to 2080. Analyses were conducted considering possible setups among the factors that are likely to critically impact conservation success: three climate/land-use scenarios; four species' dispersal kernel curves; six land-use layer types; and two planning designs, in which assessments were made independently for each species, or joining all species in a single plan. We identified areas for an array of investments levels capable to circumvent the spatial conflicts with socioeconomic activities. The effect of each factor on the estimated species persistence scores was assessed using linear mixed models. Our results evidence that conservation success is highly reliant on the resources available to abate land-use conflicts. Nonetheless, under the same investment levels, planning design and climate change were the factors that most shaped species persistence scores. The persistence of five species was especially affected by the sole effect of planning design and consequently, larger conservation investments may retard climatic debts. For three species, the negative effects of a changing climate and of multiple-species planning designs added up, making these species especially at risk. Integrated assessments of the factors most likely to limit species persistence are pivotal to achieve effectiveness.

Anthropogenic disturbance in tropical forests can double biodiversity loss from deforestation.

PubMed

Barlow, Jos; Lennox, Gareth D; Ferreira, Joice; Berenguer, Erika; Lees, Alexander C; Mac Nally, Ralph; Thomson, James R; Ferraz, Silvio Frosini de Barros; Louzada, Julio; Oliveira, Victor Hugo Fonseca; Parry, Luke; Solar, Ricardo Ribeiro de Castro; Vieira, Ima C G; Aragão, Luiz E O C; Begotti, Rodrigo Anzolin; Braga, Rodrigo F; Cardoso, Thiago Moreira; de Oliveira, Raimundo Cosme; Souza, Carlos M; Moura, Nárgila G; Nunes, Sâmia Serra; Siqueira, João Victor; Pardini, Renata; Silveira, Juliana M; Vaz-de-Mello, Fernando Z; Veiga, Ruan Carlo Stulpen; Venturieri, Adriano; Gardner, Toby A

2016-07-07

Concerted political attention has focused on reducing deforestation, and this remains the cornerstone of most biodiversity conservation strategies. However, maintaining forest cover may not reduce anthropogenic forest disturbances, which are rarely considered in conservation programmes. These disturbances occur both within forests, including selective logging and wildfires, and at the landscape level, through edge, area and isolation effects. Until now, the combined effect of anthropogenic disturbance on the conservation value of remnant primary forests has remained unknown, making it impossible to assess the relative importance of forest disturbance and forest loss. Here we address these knowledge gaps using a large data set of plants, birds and dung beetles (1,538, 460 and 156 species, respectively) sampled in 36 catchments in the Brazilian state of Pará. Catchments retaining more than 69–80% forest cover lost more conservation value from disturbance than from forest loss. For example, a 20% loss of primary forest, the maximum level of deforestation allowed on Amazonian properties under Brazil’s Forest Code, resulted in a 39–54% loss of conservation value: 96–171% more than expected without considering disturbance effects. We extrapolated the disturbance-mediated loss of conservation value throughout Pará, which covers 25% of the Brazilian Amazon. Although disturbed forests retained considerable conservation value compared with deforested areas, the toll of disturbance outside Pará’s strictly protected areas is equivalent to the loss of 92,000–139,000 km2 of primary forest. Even this lowest estimate is greater than the area deforested across the entire Brazilian Amazon between 2006 and 2015 (ref. 10). Species distribution models showed that both landscape and within-forest disturbances contributed to biodiversity loss, with the greatest negative effects on species of high conservation and functional value. These results demonstrate an urgent need for policy interventions that go beyond the maintenance of forest cover to safeguard the hyper-diversity of tropical forest ecosystems.

Identifying designatable units for intraspecific conservation prioritization: a hierarchical approach applied to the lake whitefish species complex (Coregonus spp.)

PubMed Central

Mee, Jonathan A; Bernatchez, Louis; Reist, Jim D; Rogers, Sean M; Taylor, Eric B

2015-01-01

The concept of the designatable unit (DU) affords a practical approach to identifying diversity below the species level for conservation prioritization. However, its suitability for defining conservation units in ecologically diverse, geographically widespread and taxonomically challenging species complexes has not been broadly evaluated. The lake whitefish species complex (Coregonus spp.) is geographically widespread in the Northern Hemisphere, and it contains a great deal of variability in ecology and evolutionary legacy within and among populations, as well as a great deal of taxonomic ambiguity. Here, we employ a set of hierarchical criteria to identify DUs within the Canadian distribution of the lake whitefish species complex. We identified 36 DUs based on (i) reproductive isolation, (ii) phylogeographic groupings, (iii) local adaptation and (iv) biogeographic regions. The identification of DUs is required for clear discussion regarding the conservation prioritization of lake whitefish populations. We suggest conservation priorities among lake whitefish DUs based on biological consequences of extinction, risk of extinction and distinctiveness. Our results exemplify the need for extensive genetic and biogeographic analyses for any species with broad geographic distributions and the need for detailed evaluation of evolutionary history and adaptive ecological divergence when defining intraspecific conservation units. PMID:26029257

Numerical study of drop spreading on a flat surface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Sheng; Desjardins, Olivier

2017-11-01

In this talk, we perform a numerical study of a droplet on a flat surface with special emphasis on capturing the spreading dynamics. The computational methodology employed is tailored for simulating large-scale two-phase flows within complex geometries. It combines a conservative level-set method to capture the liquid-gas interface, a conservative immersed boundary method to represent the solid-fluid interface, and a sub-grid curvature model at the triple-point to implicitly impose the contact angle of the liquid-gas interface. The performance of the approach is assessed in the inertial droplet spreading regime, the viscous spreading regime of high viscosity drops, and with the capillary oscillation of low viscosity droplets.

Diversity surveys and evolutionary relationships of aoxB genes in aerobic arsenite-oxidizing bacteria.

PubMed

Quéméneur, Marianne; Heinrich-Salmeron, Audrey; Muller, Daniel; Lièvremont, Didier; Jauzein, Michel; Bertin, Philippe N; Garrido, Francis; Joulian, Catherine

2008-07-01

A new primer set was designed to specifically amplify ca. 1,100 bp of aoxB genes encoding the As(III) oxidase catalytic subunit from taxonomically diverse aerobic As(III)-oxidizing bacteria. Comparative analysis of AoxB protein sequences showed variable conservation levels and highlighted the conservation of essential amino acids and structural motifs. AoxB phylogeny of pure strains showed well-discriminated taxonomic groups and was similar to 16S rRNA phylogeny. Alphaproteobacteria-, Betaproteobacteria-, and Gammaproteobacteria-related sequences were retrieved from environmental surveys, demonstrating their prevalence in mesophilic As-contaminated soils. Our study underlines the usefulness of the aoxB gene as a functional marker of aerobic As(III) oxidizers.

7 CFR 634.4 - Responsibilities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... practices that are set forth in the contracts, (4) Where practicable, enter into agreements with soil conservation districts, State soil and water conservation agencies, or State water quality agencies to... practicable for soil conservation districts, State soil and water conservation agencies, or State water...

7 CFR 634.4 - Responsibilities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... practices that are set forth in the contracts, (4) Where practicable, enter into agreements with soil conservation districts, State soil and water conservation agencies, or State water quality agencies to... practicable for soil conservation districts, State soil and water conservation agencies, or State water...

7 CFR 634.4 - Responsibilities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... practices that are set forth in the contracts, (4) Where practicable, enter into agreements with soil conservation districts, State soil and water conservation agencies, or State water quality agencies to... practicable for soil conservation districts, State soil and water conservation agencies, or State water...

Sustainable utilization and conservation of plant biodiversity in montane ecosystems: the western Himalayas as a case study.

PubMed

Khan, Shujaul Mulk; Page, Sue E; Ahmad, Habib; Harper, David M

2013-08-01

Conservation of the unique biodiversity of mountain ecosystems needs trans-disciplinary approaches to succeed in a crowded colloquial world. Geographers, conservationists, ecologists and social scientists have, in the past, had the same conservation goals but have tended to work independently. In this review, the need to integrate different conservation criteria and methodologies is discussed. New criteria are offered for prioritizing species and habitats for conservation in montane ecosystems that combine both ecological and social data. Ecological attributes of plant species, analysed through robust community statistical packages, provide unbiased classifications of species assemblages and environmental biodiversity gradients and yield importance value indices (IVIs). Surveys of local communities' utilization of the vegetation provides use values (UVs). This review suggests a new means of assessing anthropogenic pressure on plant biodiversity at both species and community levels by integrating IVI and UV data sets in a combined analysis. Mountain ecosystems are hot spots for plant conservation efforts because they hold a high overall plant diversity as communities replace each other along altitudinal and climatic gradients, including a high proportion of endemic species. This review contributes an enhanced understanding of (1) plant diversity in mountain ecosystems with special reference to the western Himalayas; (2) ethnobotanical and ecosystem service values of mountain vegetation within the context of anthropogenic impacts; and (3) local and regional plant conservation strategies and priorities.

Sustainable utilization and conservation of plant biodiversity in montane ecosystems: the western Himalayas as a case study

PubMed Central

Khan, Shujaul Mulk; Page, Sue E.; Ahmad, Habib; Harper, David M.

2013-01-01

Background Conservation of the unique biodiversity of mountain ecosystems needs trans-disciplinary approaches to succeed in a crowded colloquial world. Geographers, conservationists, ecologists and social scientists have, in the past, had the same conservation goals but have tended to work independently. In this review, the need to integrate different conservation criteria and methodologies is discussed. New criteria are offered for prioritizing species and habitats for conservation in montane ecosystems that combine both ecological and social data. Scope Ecological attributes of plant species, analysed through robust community statistical packages, provide unbiased classifications of species assemblages and environmental biodiversity gradients and yield importance value indices (IVIs). Surveys of local communities’ utilization of the vegetation provides use values (UVs). This review suggests a new means of assessing anthropogenic pressure on plant biodiversity at both species and community levels by integrating IVI and UV data sets in a combined analysis. Conclusions Mountain ecosystems are hot spots for plant conservation efforts because they hold a high overall plant diversity as communities replace each other along altitudinal and climatic gradients, including a high proportion of endemic species. This review contributes an enhanced understanding of (1) plant diversity in mountain ecosystems with special reference to the western Himalayas; (2) ethnobotanical and ecosystem service values of mountain vegetation within the context of anthropogenic impacts; and (3) local and regional plant conservation strategies and priorities. PMID:23825353

Balancing forest-regeneration probabilities and maintenance costs in dry grasslands of high conservation priority

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bolliger, Janine; Edwards, Thomas C.; Eggenberg, Stefan; Ismail, Sascha; Seidl, Irmi; Kienast, Felix

2011-01-01

Abandonment of agricultural land has resulted in forest regeneration in species-rich dry grasslands across European mountain regions and threatens conservation efforts in this vegetation type. To support national conservation strategies, we used a site-selection algorithm (MARXAN) to find optimum sets of floristic regions (reporting units) that contain grasslands of high conservation priority. We sought optimum sets that would accommodate 136 important dry-grassland species and that would minimize forest regeneration and costs of management needed to forestall predicted forest regeneration. We did not consider other conservation elements of dry grasslands, such as animal species richness, cultural heritage, and changes due to climate change. Optimal sets that included 95–100% of the dry grassland species encompassed an average of 56–59 floristic regions (standard deviation, SD 5). This is about 15% of approximately 400 floristic regions that contain dry-grassland sites and translates to 4800–5300 ha of dry grassland out of a total of approximately 23,000 ha for the entire study area. Projected costs to manage the grasslands in these optimum sets ranged from CHF (Swiss francs) 5.2 to 6.0 million/year. This is only 15–20% of the current total estimated cost of approximately CHF30–45 million/year required if all dry grasslands were to be protected. The grasslands of the optimal sets may be viewed as core sites in a national conservation strategy.

Applications of random forest feature selection for fine-scale genetic population assignment.

PubMed

Sylvester, Emma V A; Bentzen, Paul; Bradbury, Ian R; Clément, Marie; Pearce, Jon; Horne, John; Beiko, Robert G

2018-02-01

Genetic population assignment used to inform wildlife management and conservation efforts requires panels of highly informative genetic markers and sensitive assignment tests. We explored the utility of machine-learning algorithms (random forest, regularized random forest and guided regularized random forest) compared with F ST ranking for selection of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) for fine-scale population assignment. We applied these methods to an unpublished SNP data set for Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar ) and a published SNP data set for Alaskan Chinook salmon ( Oncorhynchus tshawytscha ). In each species, we identified the minimum panel size required to obtain a self-assignment accuracy of at least 90% using each method to create panels of 50-700 markers Panels of SNPs identified using random forest-based methods performed up to 7.8 and 11.2 percentage points better than F ST -selected panels of similar size for the Atlantic salmon and Chinook salmon data, respectively. Self-assignment accuracy ≥90% was obtained with panels of 670 and 384 SNPs for each data set, respectively, a level of accuracy never reached for these species using F ST -selected panels. Our results demonstrate a role for machine-learning approaches in marker selection across large genomic data sets to improve assignment for management and conservation of exploited populations.

Twisted molecular excitons as mediators for changing the angular momentum of light

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zang, Xiaoning; Lusk, Mark T.

2017-07-01

Molecules with CN or CN h symmetry can absorb quanta of optical angular momentum to generate twisted excitons with well-defined quasiangular momenta of their own. Angular momentum is conserved in such interactions at the level of a paraxial approximation for the light beam. A sequence of absorption events can thus be used to create a range of excitonic angular momenta. Subsequent decay can produce radiation with a single angular momentum equal to that accumulated. Such molecules can thus be viewed as mediators for changing the angular momentum of light. This sidesteps the need to exploit nonlinear light-matter interactions based on higher-order susceptibilities. A tight-binding paradigm is used to verify angular momentum conservation and demonstrate how it can be exploited to change the angular momentum of light. The approach is then extended to a time-dependent density functional theory setting where the key results are shown to hold in a many-body, multilevel setting.

Cheap and Nasty? The Potential Perils of Using Management Costs to Identify Global Conservation Priorities

PubMed Central

McCreless, Erin; Visconti, Piero; Carwardine, Josie; Wilcox, Chris; Smith, Robert J.

2013-01-01

The financial cost of biodiversity conservation varies widely around the world and such costs should be considered when identifying countries to best focus conservation investments. Previous global prioritizations have been based on global models for protected area management costs, but this metric may be related to other factors that negatively influence the effectiveness and social impacts of conservation. Here we investigate such relationships and first show that countries with low predicted costs are less politically stable. Local support and capacity can mitigate the impacts of such instability, but we also found that these countries have less civil society involvement in conservation. Therefore, externally funded projects in these countries must rely on government agencies for implementation. This can be problematic, as our analyses show that governments in countries with low predicted costs score poorly on indices of corruption, bureaucratic quality and human rights. Taken together, our results demonstrate that using national-level estimates for protected area management costs to set global conservation priorities is simplistic, as projects in apparently low-cost countries are less likely to succeed and more likely to have negative impacts on people. We identify the need for an improved approach to develop global conservation cost metrics that better capture the true costs of avoiding or overcoming such problems. Critically, conservation scientists must engage with practitioners to better understand and implement context-specific solutions. This approach assumes that measures of conservation costs, like measures of conservation value, are organization specific, and would bring a much-needed focus on reducing the negative impacts of conservation to develop projects that benefit people and biodiversity. PMID:24260502

Hydration in drug design. 3. Conserved water molecules at the ligand-binding sites of homologous proteins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poornima, C. S.; Dean, P. M.

1995-12-01

Water molecules are known to play an important rôle in mediating protein-ligand interactions. If water molecules are conserved at the ligand-binding sites of homologous proteins, such a finding may suggest the structural importance of water molecules in ligand binding. Structurally conserved water molecules change the conventional definition of `binding sites' by changing the shape and complementarity of these sites. Such conserved water molecules can be important for site-directed ligand/drug design. Therefore, five different sets of homologous protein/protein-ligand complexes have been examined to identify the conserved water molecules at the ligand-binding sites. Our analysis reveals that there are as many as 16 conserved water molecules at the FAD binding site of glutathione reductase between the crystal structures obtained from human and E. coli. In the remaining four sets of high-resolution crystal structures, 2-4 water molecules have been found to be conserved at the ligand-binding sites. The majority of these conserved water molecules are either bound in deep grooves at the protein-ligand interface or completely buried in cavities between the protein and the ligand. All these water molecules, conserved between the protein/protein-ligand complexes from different species, have identical or similar apolar and polar interactions in a given set. The site residues interacting with the conserved water molecules at the ligand-binding sites have been found to be highly conserved among proteins from different species; they are more conserved compared to the other site residues interacting with the ligand. These water molecules, in general, make multiple polar contacts with protein-site residues.

On biodiversity conservation and poverty traps.

PubMed

Barrett, Christopher B; Travis, Alexander J; Dasgupta, Partha

2011-08-23

This paper introduces a special feature on biodiversity conservation and poverty traps. We define and explain the core concepts and then identify four distinct classes of mechanisms that define important interlinkages between biodiversity and poverty. The multiplicity of candidate mechanisms underscores a major challenge in designing policy appropriate across settings. This framework is then used to introduce the ensuing set of papers, which empirically explore these various mechanisms linking poverty traps and biodiversity conservation.

On biodiversity conservation and poverty traps

PubMed Central

Barrett, Christopher B.; Travis, Alexander J.; Dasgupta, Partha

2011-01-01

This paper introduces a special feature on biodiversity conservation and poverty traps. We define and explain the core concepts and then identify four distinct classes of mechanisms that define important interlinkages between biodiversity and poverty. The multiplicity of candidate mechanisms underscores a major challenge in designing policy appropriate across settings. This framework is then used to introduce the ensuing set of papers, which empirically explore these various mechanisms linking poverty traps and biodiversity conservation. PMID:21873176

Effects of habitat disturbance on the pollination system of Ammopiptanthus mongolicus (Maxim) Cheng f. at the landscape-level in an arid region of Northwest China.

PubMed

Chen, Min; Zhao, Xue-Yong; Zuo, Xiao-An; Mao, Wei; Qu, Hao; Zhu, Yang-Chun

2016-05-01

Ammopiptanthus mongolicus is an ecologically important species in the arid region of Northwest China. Habitat disturbance can significantly affect plant mating success and ultimately species viability. Pollen limitation of plant reproduction occurs in many plant species, particularly those under habitat disturbance. However, previous investigations have demonstrated differences in pollen limitation between conserved and disturbed sites. We compared the phenology, pollen limitation, pollinators and breeding system of both sites to determine whether habitat disturbance has generated changes in these plant components. We found that the species differed in four aspects. First, blooming duration and flowering peak were longer in the disturbed site than in the conserved site. Second, A. mongolicus can be pollen-limited and pollen limitation was more intense in the conserved site than in the disturbed site. Third, Anthophora uljanini was found to be a frequent pollinator in the conserved site, while Apis mellifera was the most effective and frequent flower visitor. More pollinator visits were recorded in the disturbed site, which could explain the differences in reproductive success. Finally, seed set was higher in the disturbed site than in the conserved site. We found that outcrossing was dominant in both sites and that agamospermy and self-pollination played complementary roles to ensure reproduction. Differences in flower production influenced by artificial selection and pollinator type explain the different seed set in both sites, whereas habitat disturbance cause changes differences in the pollination process and limits pollen flow. The balance between artificial management and mating success is crucial to analysis of the pollination process and manipulation of A. mongolicus population size.

Introgression from cultivated rice alters genetic structures of wild relative populations: implications for in situ conservation

PubMed Central

Jin, Xin; Chen, Yu; Liu, Ping; Li, Chen; Cai, Xingxing; Rong, Jun

2018-01-01

Abstract Maintaining genetic integrity is essential for in situ and ex situ conservation of crop wild relative (CWR) species. However, introgression of crop alleles into CWR species/populations may change their genetic structure and diversity, resulting in more invasive weeds or, in contrast, the extinction of endangered populations. To determine crop-wild introgression and its consequences, we examined the genetic structure and diversity of six wild rice (Oryza rufipogon) populations under in situ conservation in China. Thirty-four simple sequence repeat (SSR) and 34 insertion/deletion markers were used to genotype the wild rice populations and two sets of rice cultivars (O. sativa), corresponding to the two types of molecular markers. Shared alleles and STRUCTURE analyses suggested a variable level of crop-wild introgression and admixture. Principal coordinates and cluster analyses indicated differentiation of wild rice populations, which was associated with the spatial distances to cultivated rice fields. The level of overall genetic diversity was comparable between wild rice populations and rice cultivars, but a great number of wild-specific alleles was detected in the wild populations. We conclude based on the results that crop-wild introgression can considerably alter the pattern of genetic structure and relationships of CWR populations. Appropriate measures should be taken for effective in situ conservation of CWR species under the scenario of crop-wild introgression. PMID:29308123

Introgression from cultivated rice alters genetic structures of wild relative populations: implications for in situ conservation.

PubMed

Jin, Xin; Chen, Yu; Liu, Ping; Li, Chen; Cai, Xingxing; Rong, Jun; Lu, Bao-Rong

2018-02-01

Maintaining genetic integrity is essential for in situ and ex situ conservation of crop wild relative (CWR) species. However, introgression of crop alleles into CWR species/populations may change their genetic structure and diversity, resulting in more invasive weeds or, in contrast, the extinction of endangered populations. To determine crop-wild introgression and its consequences, we examined the genetic structure and diversity of six wild rice ( Oryza rufipogon ) populations under in situ conservation in China. Thirty-four simple sequence repeat (SSR) and 34 insertion/deletion markers were used to genotype the wild rice populations and two sets of rice cultivars ( O. sativa ), corresponding to the two types of molecular markers. Shared alleles and STRUCTURE analyses suggested a variable level of crop-wild introgression and admixture. Principal coordinates and cluster analyses indicated differentiation of wild rice populations, which was associated with the spatial distances to cultivated rice fields. The level of overall genetic diversity was comparable between wild rice populations and rice cultivars, but a great number of wild-specific alleles was detected in the wild populations. We conclude based on the results that crop-wild introgression can considerably alter the pattern of genetic structure and relationships of CWR populations. Appropriate measures should be taken for effective in situ conservation of CWR species under the scenario of crop-wild introgression.

Variation in the genomic locations and sequence conservation of STAR elements among staphylococcal species provides insight into DNA repeat evolution

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Staphylococcus aureus Repeat (STAR) elements are a type of interspersed intergenic direct repeat. In this study the conservation and variation in these elements was explored by bioinformatic analyses of published staphylococcal genome sequences and through sequencing of specific STAR element loci from a large set of S. aureus isolates. Results Using bioinformatic analyses, we found that the STAR elements were located in different genomic loci within each staphylococcal species. There was no correlation between the number of STAR elements in each genome and the evolutionary relatedness of staphylococcal species, however higher levels of repeats were observed in both S. aureus and S. lugdunensis compared to other staphylococcal species. Unexpectedly, sequencing of the internal spacer sequences of individual repeat elements from multiple isolates showed conservation at the sequence level within deep evolutionary lineages of S. aureus. Whilst individual STAR element loci were demonstrated to expand and contract, the sequences associated with each locus were stable and distinct from one another. Conclusions The high degree of lineage and locus-specific conservation of these intergenic repeat regions suggests that STAR elements are maintained due to selective or molecular forces with some of these elements having an important role in cell physiology. The high prevalence in two of the more virulent staphylococcal species is indicative of a potential role for STAR elements in pathogenesis. PMID:23020678

10 CFR 430.62 - Submission of data.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... product subject to the applicable energy conservation standard or water conservation standard (in the case of faucets, showerheads, water closets, and urinals) set forth in subpart C of this part shall... applicable energy conservation standard or water conservation standard (in the case of faucets, showerheads...

An empirical assessment of the focal species hypothesis.

PubMed

Lindenmayer, D B; Lane, P W; Westgate, M J; Crane, M; Michael, D; Okada, S; Barton, P S

2014-12-01

Biodiversity surrogates and indicators are commonly used in conservation management. The focal species approach (FSA) is one method for identifying biodiversity surrogates, and it is underpinned by the hypothesis that management aimed at a particular focal species will confer protection on co-occurring species. This concept has been the subject of much debate, in part because the validity of the FSA has not been subject to detailed empirical assessment of the extent to which a given focal species actually co-occurs with other species in an assemblage. To address this knowledge gap, we used large-scale, long-term data sets of temperate woodland birds to select focal species associated with threatening processes such as habitat isolation and loss of key vegetation attributes. We quantified co-occurrence patterns among focal species, species in the wider bird assemblage, and species of conservation concern. Some, but not all, focal species were associated with high levels of species richness. One of our selected focal species was negatively associated with the occurrence of other species (i.e., it was an antisurrogate)-a previously undescribed property of nominated focal species. Furthermore, combinations of focal species were not associated with substantially elevated levels of bird species richness, relative to levels associated with individual species. Our results suggest that although there is some merit to the underpinning concept of the FSA, there is also a need to ensure that actions are sufficiently flexible because management tightly focused on a given focal species may not benefit some other species, including species of conservation concern, such of which might not occur in species-rich assemblages. © 2014 Society for Conservation Biology.

Setting temporal baselines for biodiversity: the limits of available monitoring data for capturing the full impact of anthropogenic pressures

PubMed Central

Mihoub, Jean-Baptiste; Henle, Klaus; Titeux, Nicolas; Brotons, Lluís; Brummitt, Neil A.; Schmeller, Dirk S.

2017-01-01

Temporal baselines are needed for biodiversity, in order for the change in biodiversity to be measured over time, the targets for biodiversity conservation to be defined and conservation progress to be evaluated. Limited biodiversity information is widely recognized as a major barrier for identifying temporal baselines, although a comprehensive quantitative assessment of this is lacking. Here, we report on the temporal baselines that could be drawn from biodiversity monitoring schemes in Europe and compare those with the rise of important anthropogenic pressures. Most biodiversity monitoring schemes were initiated late in the 20th century, well after anthropogenic pressures had already reached half of their current magnitude. Setting temporal baselines from biodiversity monitoring data would therefore underestimate the full range of impacts of major anthropogenic pressures. In addition, biases among taxa and organization levels provide a truncated picture of biodiversity over time. These limitations need to be explicitly acknowledged when designing management strategies and policies as they seriously constrain our ability to identify relevant conservation targets aimed at restoring or reversing biodiversity losses. We discuss the need for additional research efforts beyond standard biodiversity monitoring to reconstruct the impacts of major anthropogenic pressures and to identify meaningful temporal baselines for biodiversity. PMID:28134310

Predictive regulatory models in Drosophila melanogaster by integrative inference of transcriptional networks

PubMed Central

Marbach, Daniel; Roy, Sushmita; Ay, Ferhat; Meyer, Patrick E.; Candeias, Rogerio; Kahveci, Tamer; Bristow, Christopher A.; Kellis, Manolis

2012-01-01

Gaining insights on gene regulation from large-scale functional data sets is a grand challenge in systems biology. In this article, we develop and apply methods for transcriptional regulatory network inference from diverse functional genomics data sets and demonstrate their value for gene function and gene expression prediction. We formulate the network inference problem in a machine-learning framework and use both supervised and unsupervised methods to predict regulatory edges by integrating transcription factor (TF) binding, evolutionarily conserved sequence motifs, gene expression, and chromatin modification data sets as input features. Applying these methods to Drosophila melanogaster, we predict ∼300,000 regulatory edges in a network of ∼600 TFs and 12,000 target genes. We validate our predictions using known regulatory interactions, gene functional annotations, tissue-specific expression, protein–protein interactions, and three-dimensional maps of chromosome conformation. We use the inferred network to identify putative functions for hundreds of previously uncharacterized genes, including many in nervous system development, which are independently confirmed based on their tissue-specific expression patterns. Last, we use the regulatory network to predict target gene expression levels as a function of TF expression, and find significantly higher predictive power for integrative networks than for motif or ChIP-based networks. Our work reveals the complementarity between physical evidence of regulatory interactions (TF binding, motif conservation) and functional evidence (coordinated expression or chromatin patterns) and demonstrates the power of data integration for network inference and studies of gene regulation at the systems level. PMID:22456606

Building the Foundation for International Conservation Planning for Breeding Ducks across the U.S. and Canadian Border

PubMed Central

Doherty, Kevin E.; Evans, Jeffrey S.; Walker, Johann; Devries, James H.; Howerter, David W.

2015-01-01

We used publically available data on duck breeding distribution and recently compiled geospatial data on upland habitat and environmental conditions to develop a spatially explicit model of breeding duck populations across the entire Prairie Pothole Region (PPR). Our spatial population models were able to identify key areas for duck conservation across the PPR and predict between 62.1 – 79.1% (68.4% avg.) of the variation in duck counts by year from 2002 – 2010. The median difference in observed vs. predicted duck counts at a transect segment level was 4.6 ducks. Our models are the first seamless spatially explicit models of waterfowl abundance across the entire PPR and represent an initial step toward joint conservation planning between Prairie Pothole and Prairie Habitat Joint Ventures. Our work demonstrates that when spatial and temporal variation for highly mobile birds is incorporated into conservation planning it will likely increase the habitat area required to support defined population goals. A major goal of the current North American Waterfowl Management Plan and subsequent action plan is the linking of harvest and habitat management. We contend incorporation of spatial aspects will increase the likelihood of coherent joint harvest and habitat management decisions. Our results show at a minimum, it is possible to produce spatially explicit waterfowl abundance models that when summed across survey strata will produce similar strata level population estimates as the design-based Waterfowl Breeding Pair and Habitat Survey (r2 = 0.977). This is important because these design-based population estimates are currently used to set duck harvest regulations and to set duck population and habitat goals for the North American Waterfowl Management Plan. We hope this effort generates discussion on the important linkages between spatial and temporal variation in population size, and distribution relative to habitat quantity and quality when linking habitat and population goals across this important region. PMID:25714747

Protein structure and evolution: are they constrained globally by a principle derived from information theory?

PubMed

Hatton, Leslie; Warr, Gregory

2015-01-01

That the physicochemical properties of amino acids constrain the structure, function and evolution of proteins is not in doubt. However, principles derived from information theory may also set bounds on the structure (and thus also the evolution) of proteins. Here we analyze the global properties of the full set of proteins in release 13-11 of the SwissProt database, showing by experimental test of predictions from information theory that their collective structure exhibits properties that are consistent with their being guided by a conservation principle. This principle (Conservation of Information) defines the global properties of systems composed of discrete components each of which is in turn assembled from discrete smaller pieces. In the system of proteins, each protein is a component, and each protein is assembled from amino acids. Central to this principle is the inter-relationship of the unique amino acid count and total length of a protein and its implications for both average protein length and occurrence of proteins with specific unique amino acid counts. The unique amino acid count is simply the number of distinct amino acids (including those that are post-translationally modified) that occur in a protein, and is independent of the number of times that the particular amino acid occurs in the sequence. Conservation of Information does not operate at the local level (it is independent of the physicochemical properties of the amino acids) where the influences of natural selection are manifest in the variety of protein structure and function that is well understood. Rather, this analysis implies that Conservation of Information would define the global bounds within which the whole system of proteins is constrained; thus it appears to be acting to constrain evolution at a level different from natural selection, a conclusion that appears counter-intuitive but is supported by the studies described herein.

CORE_TF: a user-friendly interface to identify evolutionary conserved transcription factor binding sites in sets of co-regulated genes

PubMed Central

Hestand, Matthew S; van Galen, Michiel; Villerius, Michel P; van Ommen, Gert-Jan B; den Dunnen, Johan T; 't Hoen, Peter AC

2008-01-01

Background The identification of transcription factor binding sites is difficult since they are only a small number of nucleotides in size, resulting in large numbers of false positives and false negatives in current approaches. Computational methods to reduce false positives are to look for over-representation of transcription factor binding sites in a set of similarly regulated promoters or to look for conservation in orthologous promoter alignments. Results We have developed a novel tool, "CORE_TF" (Conserved and Over-REpresented Transcription Factor binding sites) that identifies common transcription factor binding sites in promoters of co-regulated genes. To improve upon existing binding site predictions, the tool searches for position weight matrices from the TRANSFACR database that are over-represented in an experimental set compared to a random set of promoters and identifies cross-species conservation of the predicted transcription factor binding sites. The algorithm has been evaluated with expression and chromatin-immunoprecipitation on microarray data. We also implement and demonstrate the importance of matching the random set of promoters to the experimental promoters by GC content, which is a unique feature of our tool. Conclusion The program CORE_TF is accessible in a user friendly web interface at . It provides a table of over-represented transcription factor binding sites in the users input genes' promoters and a graphical view of evolutionary conserved transcription factor binding sites. In our test data sets it successfully predicts target transcription factors and their binding sites. PMID:19036135

Cost-effective conservation of amphibian ecology and evolution

PubMed Central

Campos, Felipe S.; Lourenço-de-Moraes, Ricardo; Llorente, Gustavo A.; Solé, Mirco

2017-01-01

Habitat loss is the most important threat to species survival, and the efficient selection of priority areas is fundamental for good systematic conservation planning. Using amphibians as a conservation target, we designed an innovative assessment strategy, showing that prioritization models focused on functional, phylogenetic, and taxonomic diversity can include cost-effectiveness–based assessments of land values. We report new key conservation sites within the Brazilian Atlantic Forest hot spot, revealing a congruence of ecological and evolutionary patterns. We suggest payment for ecosystem services through environmental set-asides on private land, establishing potential trade-offs for ecological and evolutionary processes. Our findings introduce additional effective area-based conservation parameters that set new priorities for biodiversity assessment in the Atlantic Forest, validating the usefulness of a novel approach to cost-effectiveness–based assessments of conservation value for other species-rich regions. PMID:28691084

No3CoGP: non-conserved and conserved coexpressed gene pairs.

PubMed

Mal, Chittabrata; Aftabuddin, Md; Kundu, Sudip

2014-12-08

Analyzing the microarray data of different conditions, one can identify the conserved and condition-specific genes and gene modules, and thus can infer the underlying cellular activities. All the available tools based on Bioconductor and R packages differ in how they extract differential coexpression and at what level they study. There is a need for a user-friendly, flexible tool which can start analysis using raw or preprocessed microarray data and can report different levels of useful information. We present a GUI software, No3CoGP: Non-Conserved and Conserved Coexpressed Gene Pairs which takes Affymetrix microarray data (.CEL files or log2 normalized.txt files) along with annotation file (.csv file), Chip Definition File (CDF file) and probe file as inputs, utilizes the concept of network density cut-off and Fisher's z-test to extract biologically relevant information. It can identify four possible types of gene pairs based on their coexpression relationships. These are (i) gene pair showing coexpression in one condition but not in the other, (ii) gene pair which is positively coexpressed in one condition but negatively coexpressed in the other condition, (iii) positively and (iv) negatively coexpressed in both the conditions. Further, it can generate modules of coexpressed genes. Easy-to-use GUI interface enables researchers without knowledge in R language to use No3CoGP. Utilization of one or more CPU cores, depending on the availability, speeds up the program. The output files stored in the respective directories under the user-defined project offer the researchers to unravel condition-specific functionalities of gene, gene sets or modules.

DLGP: A database for lineage-conserved and lineage-specific gene pairs in animal and plant genomes.

PubMed

Wang, Dapeng

2016-01-15

The conservation of gene organization in the genome with lineage-specificity is an invaluable resource to decipher their potential functionality with diverse selective constraints, especially in higher animals and plants. Gene pairs appear to be the minimal structure for such kind of gene clusters that tend to reside in their preferred locations, representing the distinctive genomic characteristics in single species or a given lineage. Despite gene families having been investigated in a widespread manner, the definition of gene pair families in various taxa still lacks adequate attention. To address this issue, we report DLGP (http://lcgbase.big.ac.cn/DLGP/) that stores the pre-calculated lineage-based gene pairs in currently available 134 animal and plant genomes and inspect them under the same analytical framework, bringing out a set of innovational features. First, the taxonomy or lineage has been classified into four levels such as Kingdom, Phylum, Class and Order. It adopts all-to-all comparison strategy to identify the possible conserved gene pairs in all species for each gene pair in certain species and reckon those that are conserved in over a significant proportion of species in a given lineage (e.g. Primates, Diptera or Poales) as the lineage-conserved gene pairs. Furthermore, it predicts the lineage-specific gene pairs by retaining the above-mentioned lineage-conserved gene pairs that are not conserved in any other lineages. Second, it carries out pairwise comparison for the gene pairs between two compared species and creates the table including all the conserved gene pairs and the image elucidating the conservation degree of gene pairs in chromosomal level. Third, it supplies gene order browser to extend gene pairs to gene clusters, allowing users to view the evolution dynamics in the gene context in an intuitive manner. This database will be able to facilitate the particular comparison between animals and plants, between vertebrates and arthropods, and between monocots and eudicots, accounting for the significant contribution of gene pairs to speciation and diversification in specific lineages. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Setting practical conservation priorities for birds in the Western Andes of Colombia.

PubMed

Ocampo-Peñuela, Natalia; Pimm, Stuart L

2014-10-01

We aspired to set conservation priorities in ways that lead to direct conservation actions. Very large-scale strategic mapping leads to familiar conservation priorities exemplified by biodiversity hotspots. In contrast, tactical conservation actions unfold on much smaller geographical extents and they need to reflect the habitat loss and fragmentation that have sharply restricted where species now live. Our aspirations for direct, practical actions were demanding. First, we identified the global, strategic conservation priorities and then downscaled to practical local actions within the selected priorities. In doing this, we recognized the limitations of incomplete information. We started such a process in Colombia and used the results presented here to implement reforestation of degraded land to prevent the isolation of a large area of cloud forest. We used existing range maps of 171 bird species to identify priority conservation areas that would conserve the greatest number of species at risk in Colombia. By at risk species, we mean those that are endemic and have small ranges. The Western Andes had the highest concentrations of such species-100 in total-but the lowest densities of national parks. We then adjusted the priorities for this region by refining these species ranges by selecting only areas of suitable elevation and remaining habitat. The estimated ranges of these species shrank by 18-100% after accounting for habitat and suitable elevation. Setting conservation priorities on the basis of currently available range maps excluded priority areas in the Western Andes and, by extension, likely elsewhere and for other taxa. By incorporating detailed maps of remaining natural habitats, we made practical recommendations for conservation actions. One recommendation was to restore forest connections to a patch of cloud forest about to become isolated from the main Andes. © 2014 Society for Conservation Biology.

Integrating paleobiology, archeology, and history to inform biological conservation.

PubMed

Rick, Torben C; Lockwood, Rowan

2013-02-01

The search for novel approaches to establishing ecological baselines (reference conditions) is constrained by the fact that most ecological studies span the past few decades, at most, and investigate ecosystems that have been substantially altered by human activities for decades, centuries, or more. Paleobiology, archeology, and history provide historical ecological context for biological conservation, remediation, and restoration. We argue that linking historical ecology explicitly with conservation can help unify related disciplines of conservation paleobiology, conservation archeobiology, and environmental history. Differences in the spatial and temporal resolution and extent (scale) of prehistoric, historic, and modern ecological data remain obstacles to integrating historical ecology and conservation biology, but the prolonged temporal extents of historical ecological data can help establish more complete baselines for restoration, document a historical range of ecological variability, and assist in determining desired future conditions. We used the eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) fishery of the Chesapeake Bay (U.S.A.) to demonstrate the utility of historical ecological data for elucidating oyster conservation and the need for an approach to conservation that transcends disciplinary boundaries. Historical ecological studies from the Chesapeake have documented dramatic declines (as much as 99%) in oyster abundance since the early to mid-1800 s, changes in oyster size in response to different nutrient levels from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, and substantial reductions in oyster accretion rates (from 10 mm/year to effectively 0 mm/year) from the Late Holocene to modern times. Better integration of different historical ecological data sets and increased collaboration between paleobiologists, geologists, archeologists, environmental historians, and ecologists to create standardized research designs and methodologies will help unify prehistoric, historic, and modern time perspectives on biological conservation. ©2012 Society for Conservation Biology.

A Diversity of Conserved and Novel Ovarian MicroRNAs in the Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)

PubMed Central

Quah, Shan; Breuker, Casper J.; Holland, Peter W. H.

2015-01-01

microRNAs (miRNAs) are important regulators of animal development and other processes, and impart robustness to living systems through post-transcriptional regulation of specific mRNA transcripts. It is postulated that newly emergent miRNAs are generally expressed at low levels and with spatiotemporally restricted expression domains, thus minimising effects of spurious targeting on animal transcriptomes. Here we present ovarian miRNA transcriptome data for two geographically distinct populations of the Speckled Wood butterfly (Pararge aegeria). A total of 74 miRNAs were identified, including 11 newly discovered and evolutionarily-young miRNAs, bringing the total of miRNA genes known from P. aegeria up to 150. We find a positive correlation between miRNA age and expression level. A common set of 55 miRNAs are expressed in both populations. From this set, we identify seven that are consistently either ovary-specific or highly upregulated in ovaries relative to other tissues. This ‘ovary set’ includes miRNAs with known contributions to ovarian function in other insect species with similar ovaries and mode of oogenesis, including miR-989 and miR-2763, plus new candidates for ovarian function. We also note that conserved miRNAs are overrepresented in the ovary relative to the whole body. PMID:26556800

Developing a Bird Conservation Plan for the Diverse Coniferous Forests of California

Treesearch

John C. Robinson

2005-01-01

Bird conservation plans represent one of the pillars of the National Partners in Flight (PIF) bird conservation strategy known as the Flight Plan. The Flight Plan provides the framework for bird conservation plans that, in turn, set conservation priorities and specific objectives for bird populations and habitat for each state or eco-region in the nation. Many of...

Planning for land use and conservation: Assessing GIS-based conservation software for land use planning

Treesearch

Rob Baldwin; Ryan Scherzinger; Don Lipscomb; Miranda Mockrin; Susan Stein

2014-01-01

Recent advances in planning and ecological software make it possible to conduct highly technical analyses to prioritize conservation investments and inform local land use planning. We review these tools, termed conservation planning tools, and assess the knowledge of a key set of potential users: the land use planning community. We grouped several conservation software...

Linking the potato genome to the Conserved Ortholog Set (COS) markers

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Conserved ortholog set (COS) markers are an important functional genomics resource that has greatly improved orthology detection in Asterid species. A comprehensive list of these markers is available at Sol Genomics Network (http://www.sgn.cornell.edu) and many of these have been placed in the genet...

78 FR 63823 - Energy Conservation Program: Test Procedures for Television Sets

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-10-25

... Conservation Program: Test Procedures for Television Sets AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable... Energy (DOE) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) to establish a new test procedure for... additional testing and proposed amendments to the TV test procedure in its March 12, 2013 supplemental notice...

Diffusion Processes Satisfying a Conservation Law Constraint

DOE PAGES

Bakosi, J.; Ristorcelli, J. R.

2014-03-04

We investigate coupled stochastic differential equations governing N non-negative continuous random variables that satisfy a conservation principle. In various fields a conservation law requires that a set of fluctuating variables be non-negative and (if appropriately normalized) sum to one. As a result, any stochastic differential equation model to be realizable must not produce events outside of the allowed sample space. We develop a set of constraints on the drift and diffusion terms of such stochastic models to ensure that both the non-negativity and the unit-sum conservation law constraint are satisfied as the variables evolve in time. We investigate the consequencesmore » of the developed constraints on the Fokker-Planck equation, the associated system of stochastic differential equations, and the evolution equations of the first four moments of the probability density function. We show that random variables, satisfying a conservation law constraint, represented by stochastic diffusion processes, must have diffusion terms that are coupled and nonlinear. The set of constraints developed enables the development of statistical representations of fluctuating variables satisfying a conservation law. We exemplify the results with the bivariate beta process and the multivariate Wright-Fisher, Dirichlet, and Lochner’s generalized Dirichlet processes.« less

Diffusion Processes Satisfying a Conservation Law Constraint

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bakosi, J.; Ristorcelli, J. R.

We investigate coupled stochastic differential equations governing N non-negative continuous random variables that satisfy a conservation principle. In various fields a conservation law requires that a set of fluctuating variables be non-negative and (if appropriately normalized) sum to one. As a result, any stochastic differential equation model to be realizable must not produce events outside of the allowed sample space. We develop a set of constraints on the drift and diffusion terms of such stochastic models to ensure that both the non-negativity and the unit-sum conservation law constraint are satisfied as the variables evolve in time. We investigate the consequencesmore » of the developed constraints on the Fokker-Planck equation, the associated system of stochastic differential equations, and the evolution equations of the first four moments of the probability density function. We show that random variables, satisfying a conservation law constraint, represented by stochastic diffusion processes, must have diffusion terms that are coupled and nonlinear. The set of constraints developed enables the development of statistical representations of fluctuating variables satisfying a conservation law. We exemplify the results with the bivariate beta process and the multivariate Wright-Fisher, Dirichlet, and Lochner’s generalized Dirichlet processes.« less

Diversity Surveys and Evolutionary Relationships of aoxB Genes in Aerobic Arsenite-Oxidizing Bacteria▿ †

PubMed Central

Quéméneur, Marianne; Heinrich-Salmeron, Audrey; Muller, Daniel; Lièvremont, Didier; Jauzein, Michel; Bertin, Philippe N.; Garrido, Francis; Joulian, Catherine

2008-01-01

A new primer set was designed to specifically amplify ca. 1,100 bp of aoxB genes encoding the As(III) oxidase catalytic subunit from taxonomically diverse aerobic As(III)-oxidizing bacteria. Comparative analysis of AoxB protein sequences showed variable conservation levels and highlighted the conservation of essential amino acids and structural motifs. AoxB phylogeny of pure strains showed well-discriminated taxonomic groups and was similar to 16S rRNA phylogeny. Alphaproteobacteria-, Betaproteobacteria-, and Gammaproteobacteria-related sequences were retrieved from environmental surveys, demonstrating their prevalence in mesophilic As-contaminated soils. Our study underlines the usefulness of the aoxB gene as a functional marker of aerobic As(III) oxidizers. PMID:18502920

Comparative interactomics: analysis of arabidopsis 14-3-3 complexes reveals highly conserved 14-3-3 interactions between humans and plants.

PubMed

Paul, Anna-Lisa; Liu, Li; McClung, Scott; Laughner, Beth; Chen, Sixue; Ferl, Robert J

2009-04-01

As a first step in the broad characterization of plant 14-3-3 multiprotein complexes in vivo, stringent and specific antibody affinity purification was used to capture 14-3-3s together with their interacting proteins from extracts of Arabidopsis cell suspension cultures. Approximately 120 proteins were identified as potential in vivo 14-3-3 interacting proteins by mass spectrometry of the recovered complexes. Comparison of the proteins in this data set with the 14-3-3 interacting proteins from a similar study in human embryonic kidney cell cultures revealed eight interacting proteins that likely represent reasonably abundant, fundamental 14-3-3 interaction complexes that are highly conserved across all eukaryotes. The Arabidopsis 14-3-3 interaction data set was also compared to a yeast in vivo 14-3-3 interaction data set. Four 14-3-3 interacting proteins are conserved in yeast, humans, and Arabidopsis. Comparisons of the data sets based on biochemical function revealed many additional similarities in the human and Arabidopsis data sets that represent conserved functional interactions, while also leaving many proteins uniquely identified in either Arabidopsis or human cells. In particular, the Arabidopsis interaction data set is enriched for proteins involved in metabolism.

The use of an integrated variable fuzzy sets in water resources management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qiu, Qingtai; Liu, Jia; Li, Chuanzhe; Yu, Xinzhe; Wang, Yang

2018-06-01

Based on the evaluation of the present situation of water resources and the development of water conservancy projects and social economy, optimal allocation of regional water resources presents an increasing need in the water resources management. Meanwhile it is also the most effective way to promote the harmonic relationship between human and water. In view of the own limitations of the traditional evaluations of which always choose a single index model using in optimal allocation of regional water resources, on the basis of the theory of variable fuzzy sets (VFS) and system dynamics (SD), an integrated variable fuzzy sets model (IVFS) is proposed to address dynamically complex problems in regional water resources management in this paper. The model is applied to evaluate the level of the optimal allocation of regional water resources of Zoucheng in China. Results show that the level of allocation schemes of water resources ranging from 2.5 to 3.5, generally showing a trend of lower level. To achieve optimal regional management of water resources, this model conveys a certain degree of accessing water resources management, which prominently improve the authentic assessment of water resources management by using the eigenvector of level H.

78 FR 25685 - Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; Implementation of the Shark Conservation Act of 2010

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-05-02

.... 1826d et seq., and the Magnuson- Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act... regulations pertaining to the conservation and management of specific shark fisheries are set forth in Parts... regulation or requirement related to the conservation and management of sharks. The SCA also amended the...

Developing High Quality Decision-Making Discussions about Biological Conservation in a Normal Classroom Setting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grace, Marcus

2009-01-01

The conservation of biodiversity is an important socio-scientific issue that is often regarded as a precondition to sustainable development. The foundation for citizens' understanding of conservation issues can be laid down in formal school education. This research focuses on decision-making discussions about biological conservation issues among…

Use of population viability analysis to evaluate CITES trade-management options for threatened marine fishes.

PubMed

Curtis, Janelle M R; Vincent, Amanda C J

2008-10-01

Achieving multiple conservation objectives can be challenging, particularly under high uncertainty. Having agreed to limit seahorse (Hippocampus) exports to sustainable levels, signatories to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) were offered the option of a single 10-cm minimum size limit (MSL) as an interim management measure for all Hippocampus species (> or =34). Although diverse stakeholders supported the recommended MSL, its biological and socioeconomic implications were not assessed quantitatively. We combined population viability analysis, model sensitivity analysis, and economic information to evaluate the trade-off between conservation threat to and long-term cumulative income from these exploited marine fishes of high conservation concern. We used the European long-snouted seahorse (Hippocampus guttulatus) as a representative species to compare the performance of MSLs set at alternative biological reference points. Our sensitivity analyses showed that in most of our scenarios, setting the MSL just above size at maturity (9.7 cm in H. guttulatus) would not prevent exploited populations from becoming listed as vulnerable. By contrast, the relative risk of decline and extinction were almost halved--at a cost of only a 5.6% reduction in long-term catches--by increasing the MSL to the size reached after at least one full reproductive season. On the basis of our analysis, a precautionary increase in the MSL could be compatible with sustaining fishers' livelihoods and international trade. Such management tactics that aid species conservation and have minimal effects on long term catch trends may help bolster the case for CITES trade management of other valuable marine fishes.

Agricultural Conservation Planning Toolbox User's Manual

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework (ACPF) comprises an approach for applying concepts of precision conservation to watershed planning in agricultural landscapes. To enable application of this approach, USDA/ARS has developed a set of Geographic Information System (GIS) based software tools...

Does more mean less? The value of information for conservation planning under sea level rise.

PubMed

Runting, Rebecca K; Wilson, Kerrie A; Rhodes, Jonathan R

2013-02-01

Many studies have explored the benefits of adopting more sophisticated modelling techniques or spatial data in terms of our ability to accurately predict ecosystem responses to global change. However, we currently know little about whether the improved predictions will actually lead to better conservation outcomes once the costs of gaining improved models or data are accounted for. This severely limits our ability to make strategic decisions for adaptation to global pressures, particularly in landscapes subject to dynamic change such as the coastal zone. In such landscapes, the global phenomenon of sea level rise is a critical consideration for preserving biodiversity. Here, we address this issue in the context of making decisions about where to locate a reserve system to preserve coastal biodiversity with a limited budget. Specifically, we determined the cost-effectiveness of investing in high-resolution elevation data and process-based models for predicting wetland shifts in a coastal region of South East Queensland, Australia. We evaluated the resulting priority areas for reserve selection to quantify the cost-effectiveness of investment in better quantifying biological and physical processes. We show that, in this case, it is considerably more cost effective to use a process-based model and high-resolution elevation data, even if this requires a substantial proportion of the project budget to be expended (up to 99% in one instance). The less accurate model and data set failed to identify areas of high conservation value, reducing the cost-effectiveness of the resultant conservation plan. This suggests that when developing conservation plans in areas where sea level rise threatens biodiversity, investing in high-resolution elevation data and process-based models to predict shifts in coastal ecosystems may be highly cost effective. A future research priority is to determine how this cost-effectiveness varies among different regions across the globe. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Combining landscape-level conservation planning and biodiversity offset programs: a case study.

PubMed

Underwood, Jared G

2011-01-01

Habitat loss is a major factor in the endangerment and extinction of species around the world. One promising strategy to balance continued habitat loss and biodiversity conservation is that of biodiversity offsets. However, a major concern with offset programs is their consistency with landscape-level conservation goals. While merging offset policies and landscape-level conservation planning is thought to provide advantages over a traditional disconnected approach, few such landscape-level conservation-offset plans have been designed and implemented, so the effectiveness of such a strategy remains uncertain. In this study, we quantitatively assess the conservation impact of combining landscape-level conservation planning and biodiversity offset programs by comparing regions of San Diego County, USA with the combined approach to regions with only an offset program. This comparison is generally very difficult due to a variety of complicating factors. We overcome these complications and quantify the benefits to rare and threatened species of implementing a combined approach by assessing the amount of each species' predicted distribution, and the number of documented locations, conserved in comparison to the same metric for areas with an offset policy alone. We found that adoption of the combined approach has increased conservation for many rare species, often 5-10 times more than in the comparison area, and that conservation has been focused in the areas most important for these species. The level of conservation achieved reduces uncertainty that these species will persist in the region into the future. This San Diego County example demonstrates the potential benefits of combining landscape-level conservation planning and biodiversity offset programs.

Integrating habitat status, human population pressure, and protection status into biodiversity conservation priority setting

USGS Publications Warehouse

Shi, Hua; Singh, Ashbindu; Kant, S.; Zhu, Zhiliang; Waller, E.

2005-01-01

Priority setting is an essential component of biodiversity conservation. Existing methods to identify priority areas for conservation have focused almost entirely on biological factors. We suggest a new relative ranking method for identifying priority conservation areas that integrates both biological and social aspects. It is based on the following criteria: the habitat's status, human population pressure, human efforts to protect habitat, and number of endemic plant and vertebrate species. We used this method to rank 25 hotspots, 17 megadiverse countries, and the hotspots within each megadiverse country. We used consistent, comprehensive, georeferenced, and multiband data sets and analytical remote sensing and geographic information system tools to quantify habitat status, human population pressure, and protection status. The ranking suggests that the Philippines, Atlantic Forest, Mediterranean Basin, Caribbean Islands, Caucasus, and Indo-Burma are the hottest hotspots and that China, the Philippines, and India are the hottest megadiverse countries. The great variation in terms of habitat, protected areas, and population pressure among the hotspots, the megadiverse countries, and the hotspots within the same country suggests the need for hotspot- and country-specific conservation policies.

78 FR 79637 - Energy Conservation Program: Test Procedure for Set-Top Boxes

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-12-31

... Energy Conservation Program: Test Procedure for Set-Top Boxes AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and... Energy (DOE) withdraws a proposed rule published January 23, 2013 to establish a test procedure to... additional types of consumer products as covered products. (42 U.S.C. 6292(a)(20)) DOE may prescribe test...

Gemi: PCR Primers Prediction from Multiple Alignments

PubMed Central

Sobhy, Haitham; Colson, Philippe

2012-01-01

Designing primers and probes for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a preliminary and critical step that requires the identification of highly conserved regions in a given set of sequences. This task can be challenging if the targeted sequences display a high level of diversity, as frequently encountered in microbiologic studies. We developed Gemi, an automated, fast, and easy-to-use bioinformatics tool with a user-friendly interface to design primers and probes based on multiple aligned sequences. This tool can be used for the purpose of real-time and conventional PCR and can deal efficiently with large sets of sequences of a large size. PMID:23316117

Building robust conservation plans.

PubMed

Visconti, Piero; Joppa, Lucas

2015-04-01

Systematic conservation planning optimizes trade-offs between biodiversity conservation and human activities by accounting for socioeconomic costs while aiming to achieve prescribed conservation objectives. However, the most cost-efficient conservation plan can be very dissimilar to any other plan achieving the set of conservation objectives. This is problematic under conditions of implementation uncertainty (e.g., if all or part of the plan becomes unattainable). We determined through simulations of parallel implementation of conservation plans and habitat loss the conditions under which optimal plans have limited chances of implementation and where implementation attempts would fail to meet objectives. We then devised a new, flexible method for identifying conservation priorities and scheduling conservation actions. This method entails generating a number of alternative plans, calculating the similarity in site composition among all plans, and selecting the plan with the highest density of neighboring plans in similarity space. We compared our method with the classic method that maximizes cost efficiency with synthetic and real data sets. When implementation was uncertain--a common reality--our method provided higher likelihood of achieving conservation targets. We found that χ, a measure of the shortfall in objectives achieved by a conservation plan if the plan could not be implemented entirely, was the main factor determining the relative performance of a flexibility enhanced approach to conservation prioritization. Our findings should help planning authorities prioritize conservation efforts in the face of uncertainty about future condition and availability of sites. © 2014 Society for Conservation Biology.

Optimal allocation of Red List assessments to guide conservation of biodiversity in a rapidly changing world.

PubMed

Hermoso, Virgilio; Januchowski-Hartley, Stephanie Renee; Linke, Simon; Dudgeon, David; Petry, Paulo; McIntyre, Peter

2017-09-01

The IUCN Red List is the most extensive source of conservation status assessments for species worldwide, but important gaps in coverage remain. Here, we demonstrate the use of a spatial prioritization approach to efficiently prioritize species assessments to achieve increased and up-to-date coverage efficiently. We focus on freshwater fishes, which constitute a significant portion of vertebrate diversity, although comprehensive assessments are available for only 46% of species. We used marxan to identify ecoregions for future assessments that maximize the coverage of species while accounting for anthropogenic stress. We identified a set of priority regions that would help assess one-third (ca 4000 species) of all freshwater fishes in need of assessment by 2020. Such assessments could be achieved without increasing current investment levels. Our approach is suitable for any taxon and can help ensure that species threat assessments are sufficiently complete to guide global conservation efforts in a rapidly changing world. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Opportunities drive the global distribution of protected areas.

PubMed

Baldi, Germán; Texeira, Marcos; Martin, Osvaldo A; Grau, H Ricardo; Jobbágy, Esteban G

2017-01-01

Protected areas, regarded today as a cornerstone of nature conservation, result from an array of multiple motivations and opportunities. We explored at global and regional levels the current distribution of protected areas along biophysical, human, and biological gradients, and assessed to what extent protection has pursued (i) a balanced representation of biophysical environments, (ii) a set of preferred conditions (biological, spiritual, economic, or geopolitical), or (iii) existing opportunities for conservation regardless of any representation or preference criteria. We used histograms to describe the distribution of terrestrial protected areas along biophysical, human, and biological independent gradients and linear and non-linear regression and correlation analyses to describe the sign, shape, and strength of the relationships. We used a random forest analysis to rank the importance of different variables related to conservation preferences and opportunity drivers, and an evenness metric to quantify representativeness. We find that protection at a global level is primarily driven by the opportunities provided by isolation and a low population density (variable importance = 34.6 and 19.9, respectively). Preferences play a secondary role, with a bias towards tourism attractiveness and proximity to international borders (variable importance = 12.7 and 3.4, respectively). Opportunities shape protection strongly in "North America & Australia-NZ" and "Latin America & Caribbean," while the importance of the representativeness of biophysical environments is higher in "Sub-Saharan Africa" (1.3 times the average of other regions). Environmental representativeness and biodiversity protection are top priorities in land conservation agendas. However, our results suggest that they have been minor players driving current protection at both global and regional levels. Attempts to increase their relevance will necessarily have to recognize the predominant opportunistic nature that the establishment of protected areas has had until present times.

Opportunities drive the global distribution of protected areas

PubMed Central

Texeira, Marcos; Martin, Osvaldo A.; Grau, H. Ricardo; Jobbágy, Esteban G.

2017-01-01

Background Protected areas, regarded today as a cornerstone of nature conservation, result from an array of multiple motivations and opportunities. We explored at global and regional levels the current distribution of protected areas along biophysical, human, and biological gradients, and assessed to what extent protection has pursued (i) a balanced representation of biophysical environments, (ii) a set of preferred conditions (biological, spiritual, economic, or geopolitical), or (iii) existing opportunities for conservation regardless of any representation or preference criteria. Methods We used histograms to describe the distribution of terrestrial protected areas along biophysical, human, and biological independent gradients and linear and non-linear regression and correlation analyses to describe the sign, shape, and strength of the relationships. We used a random forest analysis to rank the importance of different variables related to conservation preferences and opportunity drivers, and an evenness metric to quantify representativeness. Results We find that protection at a global level is primarily driven by the opportunities provided by isolation and a low population density (variable importance = 34.6 and 19.9, respectively). Preferences play a secondary role, with a bias towards tourism attractiveness and proximity to international borders (variable importance = 12.7 and 3.4, respectively). Opportunities shape protection strongly in “North America & Australia–NZ” and “Latin America & Caribbean,” while the importance of the representativeness of biophysical environments is higher in “Sub-Saharan Africa” (1.3 times the average of other regions). Discussion Environmental representativeness and biodiversity protection are top priorities in land conservation agendas. However, our results suggest that they have been minor players driving current protection at both global and regional levels. Attempts to increase their relevance will necessarily have to recognize the predominant opportunistic nature that the establishment of protected areas has had until present times. PMID:28229022

Prevalence of Barriers and Facilitators to Enhancing Conservative Kidney Management for Older Adults in the Primary Care Setting

PubMed Central

Tam-Tham, Helen; King-Shier, Kathryn M.; Thomas, Chandra M.; Quinn, Robert R.; Fruetel, Karen; Davison, Sara N.

2016-01-01

Background and objectives Conservative management of adults with stage 5 CKD (eGFR<15 ml/min per 1.73 m2) is increasingly being provided in the primary care setting. We aimed to examine perceived barriers and facilitators for conservative management of older adults by primary care physicians. Design, setting, participants, & measurements In 2015, we conducted a cross–sectional, population–based survey of all primary care physicians in Alberta, Canada. Eligible participants had experience caring for adults ages ≥75 years old with stage 5 CKD not planning on initiating dialysis. Questionnaire items were on the basis of a qualitative descriptive study informed by the Behavior Change Wheel and tested for face and content validity. Physicians were contacted via postal mail and/or fax on the basis of a modified Dillman method. Results Four hundred nine eligible primary care physicians completed the questionnaire (9.6% response rate). The majority of respondents were men (61.6%), were ages 40–60 years old (62.6%), and practiced in a large/medium population center (68.0%). The most common barrier to providing conservative care in the primary care setting was the inability to access support to maintain patients in the home setting (39.1% of respondents; 95% confidence interval, 34.6% to 43.6%). The second most common barrier was working with nonphysician providers with limited kidney–specific clinical expertise (32.3%; 95% confidence interval, 28.0% to 36.7%). Primary care physicians indicated that the two most common strategies that would enhance their ability to provide conservative management would be the ability to use the telephone to contact a nephrologist or clinical staff from the conservative care clinic (86.9%; 95% confidence interval, 83.7% to 90.0% and 85.6%; 95% confidence interval, 82.4% to 88.9%, respectively). Conclusions We identified important areas to inform clinical programs to reduce barriers and enhance facilitators to improve primary care physicians’ provision of conservative kidney care. In particular, primary care physicians require additional resources for maintaining patients in their home and telephone access to nephrologists and conservative care specialists. PMID:27551007

The Use of Ecological Indicators as a Basis for Operationalizing a PES Scheme on Forest Conservation in Northern Argentina

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gobbi, José; Deguillon, Marie

2017-04-01

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) aim to improve the supply of ecosystem services (ES) by making payments to service providers, which are conditional on the provision of those services. Payments cannot be conditional unless the service can be effectively monitored. Direct monitoring of ES to assess conditionality could be methodologically complex and operatively expensive. To overcome such constraints, the pilot "GEF-PES Project" of Northern Argentina has developed a set of five indicators on forest conservation status (CS) as a basis for estimating the amount of ES provided -considering a positive correlation between the CS of a forest and its level of provision of ecosystem services -and for operationalizing the PES. Field data indicate that selected indicators: (i) exhibit strong correlation with the amount of carbon and biodiversity provided by forests according to their CS, ii) are cost-effective to monitor ES conditionality and (iii) allow easy application of payment levels.

Setting conservation targets for sandy beach ecosystems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harris, Linda; Nel, Ronel; Holness, Stephen; Sink, Kerry; Schoeman, David

2014-10-01

Representative and adequate reserve networks are key to conserving biodiversity. This begs the question, how much of which features need to be placed in protected areas? Setting specifically-derived conservation targets for most ecosystems is common practice; however, this has never been done for sandy beaches. The aims of this paper, therefore, are to propose a methodology for setting conservation targets for sandy beach ecosystems; and to pilot the proposed method using data describing biodiversity patterns and processes from microtidal beaches in South Africa. First, a classification scheme of valued features of beaches is constructed, including: biodiversity features; unique features; and important processes. Second, methodologies for setting targets for each feature under different data-availability scenarios are described. From this framework, targets are set for features characteristic of microtidal beaches in South Africa, as follows. 1) Targets for dune vegetation types were adopted from a previous assessment, and ranged 19-100%. 2) Targets for beach morphodynamic types (habitats) were set using species-area relationships (SARs). These SARs were derived from species richness data from 142 sampling events around the South African coast (extrapolated to total theoretical species richness estimates using previously-established species-accumulation curve relationships), plotted against the area of the beach (calculated from Google Earth imagery). The species-accumulation factor (z) was 0.22, suggesting a baseline habitat target of 27% is required to protect 75% of the species. This baseline target was modified by heuristic principles, based on habitat rarity and threat status, with final values ranging 27-40%. 3) Species targets were fixed at 20%, modified using heuristic principles based on endemism, threat status, and whether or not beaches play an important role in the species' life history, with targets ranging 20-100%. 4) Targets for processes and 5) important assemblages were set at 50%, following other studies. 6) Finally, a target for an outstanding feature (the Alexandria dunefield) was set at 80% because of its national, international and ecological importance. The greatest shortfall in the current target-setting process is in the lack of empirical models describing the key beach processes, from which robust ecological thresholds can be derived. As for many other studies, our results illustrate that the conservation target of 10% for coastal and marine systems proposed by the Convention on Biological Diversity is too low to conserve sandy beaches and their biota.

ECP (Environmental Conservation Project) Report, No. 5, March 1976. Planning for Energy Conservation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Environmental Law Inst., Washington, DC.

The culmination of the Environmental Law Institute's Energy Conservation Project will be a series of handbooks addressed to state and local officials, legislators, and interested citizens setting out suggested strategies for conserving energy. This issue of the ECP Report publishes the first of a series of draft chapters from these handbooks - a…

77 FR 11785 - Energy Conservation Program: Public Meeting and Availability of the Framework Document for High...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-02-28

... Conservation Program: Public Meeting and Availability of the Framework Document for High-Intensity Discharge...) is initiating the rulemaking and data collection process to consider establishing energy conservation... Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) (42 U.S.C. 6291, et seq.; EPCA or ``the Act'') sets forth a variety of...

Assessing strategies to reconcile agriculture and bird conservation in the temperate grasslands of South America.

PubMed

Dotta, G; Phalan, B; Silva, T W; Green, R; Balmford, A

2016-06-01

Globally, agriculture is the greatest source of threat to biodiversity, through both ongoing conversion of natural habitat and intensification of existing farmland. Land sparing and land sharing have been suggested as alternative approaches to reconcile this threat with the need for land to produce food. To examine which approach holds most promise for grassland species, we examined how bird population densities changed with farm yield (production per unit area) in the Campos of Brazil and Uruguay. We obtained information on biodiversity and crop yields from 24 sites that differed in agricultural yield. Density-yield functions were fitted for 121 bird species to describe the response of population densities to increasing farm yield, measured in terms of both food energy and profit. We categorized individual species according to how their population changed across the yield gradient as being positively or negatively affected by farming and according to whether the species' total population size was greater under land-sparing, land-sharing, or an intermediate strategy. Irrespective of the yield, most species were negatively affected by farming. Increasing yields reduced densities of approximately 80% of bird species. We estimated land sparing would result in larger populations than other sorts of strategies for 67% to 70% of negatively affected species, given current production levels, including three threatened species. This suggests that increasing yields in some areas while reducing grazing to low levels elsewhere may be the best option for bird conservation in these grasslands. Implementing such an approach would require conservation and production policies to be explicitly linked to support yield increases in farmed areas and concurrently guarantee that larger areas of lightly grazed natural grasslands are set aside for conservation. © 2015 Society for Conservation Biology.

76 FR 45514 - Marine Mammals; File No. 16094

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-07-29

... following offices: Permits, Conservation and Education Division, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, 1315.... Written comments on this application should be submitted to the Chief, Permits, Conservation and Education... Chief, Permits, Conservation and Education Division at the address listed above. The request should set...

Quantifying progress toward a conservation assessment for all plants.

PubMed

Bachman, Steven P; Nic Lughadha, Eimear M; Rivers, Malin C

2018-06-01

The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) set an ambitious target to achieve a conservation assessment for all known plant species by 2020. We consolidated digitally available plant conservation assessments and reconciled their scientific names and assessment status to predefined standards to provide a quantitative measure of progress toward this target. The 241,919 plant conservation assessments generated represent 111,824 accepted land plant species (vascular plants and bryophytes, not algae). At least 73,081 and up to 90,321 species have been assessed at the global scale, representing 21-26% of known plant species. Of these plant species, at least 27,148 and up to 32,542 are threatened. Eighty plant families, including some of the largest, such as Asteraceae, Orchidaceae, and Rubiaceae, are underassessed and should be the focus of assessment effort if the GSPC target is to be met by 2020. Our data set is accessible online (ThreatSearch) and is a baseline that can be used to directly support other GSPC targets and plant conservation action. Although around one-quarter of a million plant assessments have been compiled, the majority of plants are still unassessed. The challenge now is to build on this progress and redouble efforts to document conservation status of unassessed plants to better inform conservation decisions and conserve the most threatened species. © 2017 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.

The role of taxonomy in species conservation.

PubMed Central

Mace, Georgina M

2004-01-01

Taxonomy and species conservation are often assumed to be completely interdependent activities. However, a shortage of taxonomic information and skills, and confusion over where the limits to 'species' should be set, both cause problems for conservationists. There is no simple solution because species lists used for conservation planning (e.g. threatened species, species richness estimates, species covered by legislation) are often also used to determine which units should be the focus of conservation actions; this despite the fact that the two processes have such different goals and information needs. Species conservation needs two kinds of taxonomic solution: (i) a set of practical rules to standardize the species units included on lists; and (ii) an approach to the units chosen for conservation recovery planning which recognizes the dynamic nature of natural systems and the differences from the units in listing processes that result. These solutions are well within our grasp but require a new kind of collaboration among conservation biologists, taxonomists and legislators, as well as an increased resource of taxonomists with relevant and high-quality skills. PMID:15253356

A new numerical framework for solving conservation laws: The method of space-time conservation element and solution element

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chang, Sin-Chung; To, Wai-Ming

1991-01-01

A new numerical framework for solving conservation laws is being developed. It employs: (1) a nontraditional formulation of the conservation laws in which space and time are treated on the same footing, and (2) a nontraditional use of discrete variables such as numerical marching can be carried out by using a set of relations that represents both local and global flux conservation.

A gap analysis and comprehensive conservation strategy for riverine ecosystems of Missouri

USGS Publications Warehouse

Sowa, Scott P.; Annis, Gust; Morey, Michael E.; Diamond, David D.

2007-01-01

North America harbors an astounding proportion of the world's freshwater species, but it is facing a freshwater biodiversity crisis. A first step to slowing the loss of biodiversity involves identifying gaps in existing efforts to conserve biodiversity and prioritizing opportunities to fill these gaps. In this monograph we detail two separate, but complementary, conservation planning efforts - a Gap Analysis (GAP) and a State Wildlife Action Plan (WAP) - for Missouri that address this first step. The goal of the Missouri Aquatic GAP Project was to identify riverine ecosystems, habitats, and species not adequately represented (i.e., gaps) within existing conservation lands. The goal of the freshwater component of the Missouri Wildlife Action Plan was to identify and map a set of conservation-opportunity areas (COAs) that holistically represent all riverine ecosystems, habitats, and species in Missouri. Since conservation planning is a geographical exercise, both efforts utilized geographic information systems (GIS). Four principal GIS data sets were used in each planning effort: (1) a hierarchical riverine ecosystem classification, (2) predicted species distributions, (3) public ownership/stewardship, and (4) a human-threat index. Results of the gap analyses are not encouraging. Forty five, mostly rare, threatened, or endangered, species are not represented in lands set aside for conserving biodiversity. Results also illustrate the fragmented nature of conservation lands, which are mainly situated in the uplands and fail to provide connectivity among riverine habitats. Furthermore, many conservation lands are severely threatened by an array of human disturbances. In contrast, results of the WAP provide hope that relatively intact riverine ecosystems still exist. A total of 158 COAs, representing ∼6% of the total kilometers of stream in Missouri, were selected for the WAP. This illustrates that a wide spectrum of biodiversity can be represented within a small portion of the total resource base, but the area of conservation concern is often much larger. Identifying priority riverscapes for conservation is an important first step toward effective biodiversity conservation. Yet, achieving the ultimate goal of conserving biodiversity will require vigilance on the part of all responsible parties, with particular attention to addressing and coordinating the many remaining logistical tasks.

10 CFR 431.370 - Purpose and scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... water conservation standard set forth in this part. Energy and water conservation standards include... 10 Energy 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Purpose and scope. 431.370 Section 431.370 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ENERGY CONSERVATION ENERGY EFFICIENCY PROGRAM FOR CERTAIN COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL...

Conservation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Audubon Society, New York, NY.

This set of teaching aids consists of seven Audubon Nature Bulletins, providing the teacher and student with informational reading on various topics in conservation. The bulletins have these titles: Plants as Makers of Soil, Water Pollution Control, The Ground Water Table, Conservation--To Keep This Earth Habitable, Our Threatened Air Supply,…

50 CFR 679.3 - Relation to other laws.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

....3 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC... fishing for groundfish. (1) The conservation and management of groundfish in waters of the territorial sea.... Additional regulations governing the conservation and management of halibut are set forth in subpart E of...

50 CFR 679.3 - Relation to other laws.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

....3 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC... fishing for groundfish. (1) The conservation and management of groundfish in waters of the territorial sea.... Additional regulations governing the conservation and management of halibut are set forth in subpart E of...

76 FR 70418 - Marine Mammals; File No. 16124

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-11-14

... written request or by appointment in the following offices: Permits, Conservation and Education Division... on this application should be submitted to the Chief, Permits, Conservation and Education Division..., Permits, Conservation and Education Division at the address listed above. The request should set forth the...

Multiple genome alignment for identifying the core structure among moderately related microbial genomes.

PubMed

Uchiyama, Ikuo

2008-10-31

Identifying the set of intrinsically conserved genes, or the genomic core, among related genomes is crucial for understanding prokaryotic genomes where horizontal gene transfers are common. Although core genome identification appears to be obvious among very closely related genomes, it becomes more difficult when more distantly related genomes are compared. Here, we consider the core structure as a set of sufficiently long segments in which gene orders are conserved so that they are likely to have been inherited mainly through vertical transfer, and developed a method for identifying the core structure by finding the order of pre-identified orthologous groups (OGs) that maximally retains the conserved gene orders. The method was applied to genome comparisons of two well-characterized families, Bacillaceae and Enterobacteriaceae, and identified their core structures comprising 1438 and 2125 OGs, respectively. The core sets contained most of the essential genes and their related genes, which were primarily included in the intersection of the two core sets comprising around 700 OGs. The definition of the genomic core based on gene order conservation was demonstrated to be more robust than the simpler approach based only on gene conservation. We also investigated the core structures in terms of G+C content homogeneity and phylogenetic congruence, and found that the core genes primarily exhibited the expected characteristic, i.e., being indigenous and sharing the same history, more than the non-core genes. The results demonstrate that our strategy of genome alignment based on gene order conservation can provide an effective approach to identify the genomic core among moderately related microbial genomes.

Ecoregion-Based Conservation Planning in the Mediterranean: Dealing with Large-Scale Heterogeneity

PubMed Central

Giakoumi, Sylvaine; Sini, Maria; Gerovasileiou, Vasilis; Mazor, Tessa; Beher, Jutta; Possingham, Hugh P.; Abdulla, Ameer; Çinar, Melih Ertan; Dendrinos, Panagiotis; Gucu, Ali Cemal; Karamanlidis, Alexandros A.; Rodic, Petra; Panayotidis, Panayotis; Taskin, Ergun; Jaklin, Andrej; Voultsiadou, Eleni; Webster, Chloë; Zenetos, Argyro; Katsanevakis, Stelios

2013-01-01

Spatial priorities for the conservation of three key Mediterranean habitats, i.e. seagrass Posidonia oceanica meadows, coralligenous formations, and marine caves, were determined through a systematic planning approach. Available information on the distribution of these habitats across the entire Mediterranean Sea was compiled to produce basin-scale distribution maps. Conservation targets for each habitat type were set according to European Union guidelines. Surrogates were used to estimate the spatial variation of opportunity cost for commercial, non-commercial fishing, and aquaculture. Marxan conservation planning software was used to evaluate the comparative utility of two planning scenarios: (a) a whole-basin scenario, referring to selection of priority areas across the whole Mediterranean Sea, and (b) an ecoregional scenario, in which priority areas were selected within eight predefined ecoregions. Although both scenarios required approximately the same total area to be protected in order to achieve conservation targets, the opportunity cost differed between them. The whole-basin scenario yielded a lower opportunity cost, but the Alboran Sea ecoregion was not represented and priority areas were predominantly located in the Ionian, Aegean, and Adriatic Seas. In comparison, the ecoregional scenario resulted in a higher representation of ecoregions and a more even distribution of priority areas, albeit with a higher opportunity cost. We suggest that planning at the ecoregional level ensures better representativeness of the selected conservation features and adequate protection of species, functional, and genetic diversity across the basin. While there are several initiatives that identify priority areas in the Mediterranean Sea, our approach is novel as it combines three issues: (a) it is based on the distribution of habitats and not species, which was rarely the case in previous efforts, (b) it considers spatial variability of cost throughout this socioeconomically heterogeneous basin, and (c) it adopts ecoregions as the most appropriate level for large-scale planning. PMID:24155901

Using community-level metrics to monitor the effects of marine protected areas on biodiversity.

PubMed

Soykan, Candan U; Lewison, Rebecca L

2015-06-01

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are used to protect species, communities, and their associated habitats, among other goals. Measuring MPA efficacy can be challenging, however, particularly when considering responses at the community level. We gathered 36 abundance and 14 biomass data sets on fish assemblages and used meta-analysis to evaluate the ability of 22 distinct community diversity metrics to detect differences in community structure between MPAs and nearby control sites. We also considered the effects of 6 covariates-MPA size and age, MPA size and age interaction, latitude, total species richness, and level of protection-on each metric. Some common metrics, such as species richness and Shannon diversity, did not differ consistently between MPA and control sites, whereas other metrics, such as total abundance and biomass, were consistently different across studies. Metric responses derived from the biomass data sets were more consistent than those based on the abundance data sets, suggesting that community-level biomass differs more predictably than abundance between MPA and control sites. Covariate analyses indicated that level of protection, latitude, MPA size, and the interaction between MPA size and age affect metric performance. These results highlight a handful of metrics, several of which are little known, that could be used to meet the increasing demand for community-level indicators of MPA effectiveness. © 2015 Society for Conservation Biology.

Agricultural Intensification in the Brazilian Agricultural-Forest Frontier: Land Use Responses to Development and Conservation Policy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garrett, R.; Koh, I.; le Polain de Waroux, Y.; Lambin, E.; Kastens, J.; Brown, J. C.

2017-12-01

Agricultural expansion, extensive cattle ranching, and deforestation remain pressing challenges for sustainable development and climate mitigation throughout South America. In response to these challenges, national and local governments, as well as private and non-governmental actors have developed new forest conservation governance mechanisms. The objective of this study is to better understand how conservation policies interact with supply chain development to influence land use. In particular, we endeavor to understand the timing and spatial patterns of crop and cattle intensification, an understudied phenomenon that is critical to understanding the future of agricultural-forest frontiers and the impacts of conservation policies. We focus on Mato Grosso, the largest soy and cattle producing state in Brazil, which spans the Cerrado and Amazon biomes and has experienced higher levels of deforestation for agricultural expansion than any other state globally over the last decade. Using a newly created spatially explicit data set of land use intensity, supply chain development, and forest policy, we find that agricultural intensification is occurring rapidly in the region, but is only partially driven by changes in conservation policies. The intensification of cattle production is the result of improvements in deforestation monitoring, penalties, and enforcement, and increased land scarcity. Crop intensification, in contrast, preceded increases in conservation restrictions, and is associated with the positive spillovers resulting from agribusiness agglomeration and development. These results suggest that intensification is not a foregone conclusion of increasing forest conservation restrictions, but is highly dependent on wider development processes. A combined effort to direct agribusiness development away from forest regions via tax credits and subsidized credit, when applied in concert with stringent conservation requirements, could help promote intensification and reduce deforestation leakage.

Capturing Energy-Saving Opportunities: Improving Building Efficiency in Rajasthan through Energy Code Implementation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tan, Qing; Yu, Sha; Evans, Meredydd

2016-05-01

India adopted the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) in 2007. Rajasthan is the first state to make ECBC mandatory at the state level. In collaboration with Malaviya National Institute of Technology (MNIT) Jaipur, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has been working with Rajasthan to facilitate the implementation of ECBC. This report summarizes milestones made in Rajasthan and PNNL's contribution in institutional set-ups, capacity building, compliance enforcement and pilot building construction.

Mold Susceptibility of Rapidly Renewable Building Materials Used in Wall Construction

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-12-01

reminder that the earth must be viewed as a living set of ecosystems that all work in harmony with each other. The 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de ... Janeiro , Brazil brought together numerous programs and ideas in conservation and sustainability. One of these is the idea of a global revolution that...a Macro Level In an opposing view to the concepts developed in the Rio summit, Huey Johnson in Green Plans Greenprint for Sustainability

MtDNA COI-COII marker and drone congregation area: an efficient method to establish and monitor honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) conservation centres.

PubMed

Bertrand, Bénédicte; Alburaki, Mohamed; Legout, Hélène; Moulin, Sibyle; Mougel, Florence; Garnery, Lionel

2015-05-01

Honeybee subspecies have been affected by human activities in Europe over the past few decades. One such example is the importation of nonlocal subspecies of bees which has had an adverse impact on the geographical repartition and subsequently on the genetic diversity of the black honeybee Apis mellifera mellifera. To restore the original diversity of this local honeybee subspecies, different conservation centres were set up in Europe. In this study, we established a black honeybee conservation centre Conservatoire de l'Abeille Noire d'Ile de France (CANIF) in the region of Ile-de-France, France. CANIF's honeybee colonies were intensively studied over a 3-year period. This study included a drone congregation area (DCA) located in the conservation centre. MtDNA COI-COII marker was used to evaluate the genetic diversity of CANIF's honeybee populations and the drones found and collected from the DCA. The same marker (mtDNA) was used to estimate the interactions and the haplotype frequency between CANIF's honeybee populations and 10 surrounding honeybee apiaries located outside of the CANIF. Our results indicate that the colonies of the conservation centre and the drones of the DCA show similar stable profiles compared to the surrounding populations with lower level of introgression. The mtDNA marker used on both DCA and colonies of the conservation centre seems to be an efficient approach to monitor and maintain the genetic diversity of the protected honeybee populations. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Finding Freedom Abroad: Working with Conservative Christian Students in Study Abroad Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mercer, Calvin

2015-01-01

Conservative (fundamentalist, evangelical) Christian students present a general theological worldview that often correlates with significant anxiety. In a foreign setting, the anxiety of conservative students, removed from their supportive infrastructure, can be considerably heightened. This structure of thinking and emotion presents distinctive…

78 FR 42756 - Marine Mammals; File No. 14330

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-07-17

..., Conservation and Education Division, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Room 13705... application should be submitted to the Chief, Permits, Conservation and Education Division, at the address..., Conservation and Education Division at the address listed above. The request should set forth the specific...

A New Species of the Bay Goby Genus Eucyclogobius, Endemic to Southern California: Evolution, Conservation, and Decline

PubMed Central

Swift, Camm C.; Spies, Brenton; Ellingson, Ryan A.; Jacobs, David K.

2016-01-01

A geographically isolated set of southern localities of the formerly monotypic goby genus Eucyclogobius is known to be reciprocally monophyletic and substantially divergent in mitochondrial sequence and nuclear microsatellite-based phylogenies relative to populations to the north along the California coast. To clarify taxonomic and conservation status, we conducted a suite of analyses on a comprehensive set of morphological counts and measures from across the range of Eucyclogobius and describe the southern populations as a new species, the Southern Tidewater Goby, Eucyclogobius kristinae, now separate from the Northern Tidewater Goby Eucyclogobius newberryi (Girard 1856). In addition to molecular distinction, adults of E. kristinae are diagnosed by: 1) loss of the anterior supratemporal lateral-line canals resulting in higher neuromast counts, 2) lower pectoral and branched caudal ray counts, and 3) sets of measurements identified via discriminant analysis. These differences suggest ecological distinction of the two species. Previous studies estimated lineage separation at 2–4 million years ago, and mitochondrial sequence divergence exceeds that of other recognized fish species. Fish from Santa Monica Artesian Springs (Los Angeles County) northward belong to E. newberryi; those from Aliso Creek (Orange County) southward constitute E. kristinae. The lagoonal habitat of Eucyclogobius has been diminished or degraded, leading to special conservation status at state and federal levels beginning in 1980. Habitat of the newly described species has been impacted by a range of anthropogenic activities, including the conversion of closing lagoons to open tidal systems in the name of restoration. In the last 30 years, E. kristinae has only been observed in nine intermittently occupied lagoonal systems in northern San Diego County; it currently persists in only three sites. Thus, the new species is in imminent danger of extinction and will require ongoing active management. PMID:27462700

A New Species of the Bay Goby Genus Eucyclogobius, Endemic to Southern California: Evolution, Conservation, and Decline.

PubMed

Swift, Camm C; Spies, Brenton; Ellingson, Ryan A; Jacobs, David K

2016-01-01

A geographically isolated set of southern localities of the formerly monotypic goby genus Eucyclogobius is known to be reciprocally monophyletic and substantially divergent in mitochondrial sequence and nuclear microsatellite-based phylogenies relative to populations to the north along the California coast. To clarify taxonomic and conservation status, we conducted a suite of analyses on a comprehensive set of morphological counts and measures from across the range of Eucyclogobius and describe the southern populations as a new species, the Southern Tidewater Goby, Eucyclogobius kristinae, now separate from the Northern Tidewater Goby Eucyclogobius newberryi (Girard 1856). In addition to molecular distinction, adults of E. kristinae are diagnosed by: 1) loss of the anterior supratemporal lateral-line canals resulting in higher neuromast counts, 2) lower pectoral and branched caudal ray counts, and 3) sets of measurements identified via discriminant analysis. These differences suggest ecological distinction of the two species. Previous studies estimated lineage separation at 2-4 million years ago, and mitochondrial sequence divergence exceeds that of other recognized fish species. Fish from Santa Monica Artesian Springs (Los Angeles County) northward belong to E. newberryi; those from Aliso Creek (Orange County) southward constitute E. kristinae. The lagoonal habitat of Eucyclogobius has been diminished or degraded, leading to special conservation status at state and federal levels beginning in 1980. Habitat of the newly described species has been impacted by a range of anthropogenic activities, including the conversion of closing lagoons to open tidal systems in the name of restoration. In the last 30 years, E. kristinae has only been observed in nine intermittently occupied lagoonal systems in northern San Diego County; it currently persists in only three sites. Thus, the new species is in imminent danger of extinction and will require ongoing active management.

Conservation laws shape dissipation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rao, Riccardo; Esposito, Massimiliano

2018-02-01

Starting from the most general formulation of stochastic thermodynamics—i.e. a thermodynamically consistent nonautonomous stochastic dynamics describing systems in contact with several reservoirs—we define a procedure to identify the conservative and the minimal set of nonconservative contributions in the entropy production. The former is expressed as the difference between changes caused by time-dependent drivings and a generalized potential difference. The latter is a sum over the minimal set of flux-force contributions controlling the dissipative flows across the system. When the system is initially prepared at equilibrium (e.g. by turning off drivings and forces), a finite-time detailed fluctuation theorem holds for the different contributions. Our approach relies on identifying the complete set of conserved quantities and can be viewed as the extension of the theory of generalized Gibbs ensembles to nonequilibrium situations.

System-level strategies for conserving rare or little-known species

Treesearch

Bruce G. Marcot; Carolyn Hull Sieg

2007-01-01

In this chapter we review the literature on system-level strategies for conserving rare or little-known (RLK) species, continuing from the species-level approaches addressed in the previous chapter. We define system-level approaches as those that result in conservation actions focused on providing for community or ecosystem composition, structure, or function.

Impact of floral traits on the reproductive success of epiphytic and terrestrial tropical orchids.

PubMed

Huda, Mohammed K; Wilcock, Christopher C

2008-01-01

We investigated the relationship between habit, population size, floral traits and natural fruit set levels of 23 tropical orchid species of south-east Bangladesh. We showed that epiphytic orchids had lower fruit set levels than terrestrial species and that habit explained much of the variation in floral traits among the orchids. We compared our results with data from 76 other species occurring in the study area and hypothesize that a suite of floral and population characteristics present in tropical orchids combine in epiphytes to reduce their reproductive success. Characteristics which, in addition to their habit, are associated with low reproductive success are small population size, small inflorescences, non-sectile pollinia and self-incompatibility. Several of these characteristics were phylogenetically conserved and we predict that epiphytes might therefore generally have lower fruit set levels than recorded in terrestrial species. Nectar rewards are uncommon in tropical orchids and nectarless species have displays of larger flowers, which may represent an adaptation to increase pollinator attraction, although other rewards such as oils, waxes and pseudo pollen may replace nectar. We suggest that, like many temperate orchids, a high proportion of tropical orchids may lack floral rewards and be pollinated by deceit.

Prokaryotic regulatory systems biology: Common principles governing the functional architectures of Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli unveiled by the natural decomposition approach.

PubMed

Freyre-González, Julio A; Treviño-Quintanilla, Luis G; Valtierra-Gutiérrez, Ilse A; Gutiérrez-Ríos, Rosa María; Alonso-Pavón, José A

2012-10-31

Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis are two of the best-studied prokaryotic model organisms. Previous analyses of their transcriptional regulatory networks have shown that they exhibit high plasticity during evolution and suggested that both converge to scale-free-like structures. Nevertheless, beyond this suggestion, no analyses have been carried out to identify the common systems-level components and principles governing these organisms. Here we show that these two phylogenetically distant organisms follow a set of common novel biologically consistent systems principles revealed by the mathematically and biologically founded natural decomposition approach. The discovered common functional architecture is a diamond-shaped, matryoshka-like, three-layer (coordination, processing, and integration) hierarchy exhibiting feedback, which is shaped by four systems-level components: global transcription factors (global TFs), locally autonomous modules, basal machinery and intermodular genes. The first mathematical criterion to identify global TFs, the κ-value, was reassessed on B. subtilis and confirmed its high predictive power by identifying all the previously reported, plus three potential, master regulators and eight sigma factors. The functionally conserved cores of modules, basal cell machinery, and a set of non-orthologous common physiological global responses were identified via both orthologous genes and non-orthologous conserved functions. This study reveals novel common systems principles maintained between two phylogenetically distant organisms and provides a comparison of their lifestyle adaptations. Our results shed new light on the systems-level principles and the fundamental functions required by bacteria to sustain life. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Long-term research and monitoring of conservation practice effects in Iowa watersheds

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Impacts of conservation practices on water quality can be demonstrated at the plot and field scales in research or on-farm settings. Watershed-scale monitoring is often used to examine the cumulative effects of conservation practice implementation for that drainage area. The Upper Mississippi River ...

78 FR 38455 - Energy Conservation Program: Test Procedures for Electric Motors

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-06-26

... Conservation Program: Test Procedures for Electric Motors; Proposed Rule #0;#0;Federal Register / Vol. 78, No... 431 [Docket No. EERE-2012-BT-TP-0043] RIN 1904-AC89 Energy Conservation Program: Test Procedures for... establishing definitions, specifying testing set-up procedures necessary to test, and extending DOE's existing...

Workplace Energy Conservation at Michigan State University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allen, Summer; Marquart-Pyatt, Sandra T.

2018-01-01

Purpose: This research contributes to the literature on workplace energy conservation by examining the predictors of individual employee behaviors and policy support in a university. The purpose of this research is to better understand what factors influence energy conservation behaviors in this setting to inform programs and interventions.…

Compositional Gene Landscapes in Vertebrates

PubMed Central

Cruveiller, Stéphane; Jabbari, Kamel; Clay, Oliver; Bernardi, Giorgio

2004-01-01

The existence of a well conserved linear relationship between GC levels of genes' second and third codon positions (GC2, GC3) prompted us to focus on the landscape, or joint distribution, spanned by these two variables. In human, well curated coding sequences now cover at least 15%–30% of the estimated total gene set. Our analysis of the landscape defined by this gene set revealed not only the well documented linear crest, but also the presence of several peaks and valleys along that crest, a property that was also indicated in two other warm-blooded vertebrates represented by large gene databases, that is, mouse and chicken. GC2 is the sum of eight amino acid frequencies, whereas GC3 is linearly related to the GC level of the chromosomal region containing the gene. The landscapes therefore portray relations between proteins and the DNA environments of the genes that encode them. PMID:15123586

Compositional gene landscapes in vertebrates.

PubMed

Cruveiller, Stéphane; Jabbari, Kamel; Clay, Oliver; Bernardi, Giorgio

2004-05-01

The existence of a well conserved linear relationship between GC levels of genes' second and third codon positions (GC2, GC3) prompted us to focus on the landscape, or joint distribution, spanned by these two variables. In human, well curated coding sequences now cover at least 15%-30% of the estimated total gene set. Our analysis of the landscape defined by this gene set revealed not only the well documented linear crest, but also the presence of several peaks and valleys along that crest, a property that was also indicated in two other warm-blooded vertebrates represented by large gene databases, that is, mouse and chicken. GC2 is the sum of eight amino acid frequencies, whereas GC3 is linearly related to the GC level of the chromosomal region containing the gene. The landscapes therefore portray relations between proteins and the DNA environments of the genes that encode them.

Numerical Schemes for the Hamilton-Jacobi and Level Set Equations on Triangulated Domains

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barth, Timothy J.; Sethian, James A.

1997-01-01

Borrowing from techniques developed for conservation law equations, numerical schemes which discretize the Hamilton-Jacobi (H-J), level set, and Eikonal equations on triangulated domains are presented. The first scheme is a provably monotone discretization for certain forms of the H-J equations. Unfortunately, the basic scheme lacks proper Lipschitz continuity of the numerical Hamiltonian. By employing a virtual edge flipping technique, Lipschitz continuity of the numerical flux is restored on acute triangulations. Next, schemes are introduced and developed based on the weaker concept of positive coefficient approximations for homogeneous Hamiltonians. These schemes possess a discrete maximum principle on arbitrary triangulations and naturally exhibit proper Lipschitz continuity of the numerical Hamiltonian. Finally, a class of Petrov-Galerkin approximations are considered. These schemes are stabilized via a least-squares bilinear form. The Petrov-Galerkin schemes do not possess a discrete maximum principle but generalize to high order accuracy.

Setting conservation management thresholds using a novel participatory modeling approach.

PubMed

Addison, P F E; de Bie, K; Rumpff, L

2015-10-01

We devised a participatory modeling approach for setting management thresholds that show when management intervention is required to address undesirable ecosystem changes. This approach was designed to be used when management thresholds: must be set for environmental indicators in the face of multiple competing objectives; need to incorporate scientific understanding and value judgments; and will be set by participants with limited modeling experience. We applied our approach to a case study where management thresholds were set for a mat-forming brown alga, Hormosira banksii, in a protected area management context. Participants, including management staff and scientists, were involved in a workshop to test the approach, and set management thresholds to address the threat of trampling by visitors to an intertidal rocky reef. The approach involved trading off the environmental objective, to maintain the condition of intertidal reef communities, with social and economic objectives to ensure management intervention was cost-effective. Ecological scenarios, developed using scenario planning, were a key feature that provided the foundation for where to set management thresholds. The scenarios developed represented declines in percent cover of H. banksii that may occur under increased threatening processes. Participants defined 4 discrete management alternatives to address the threat of trampling and estimated the effect of these alternatives on the objectives under each ecological scenario. A weighted additive model was used to aggregate participants' consequence estimates. Model outputs (decision scores) clearly expressed uncertainty, which can be considered by decision makers and used to inform where to set management thresholds. This approach encourages a proactive form of conservation, where management thresholds and associated actions are defined a priori for ecological indicators, rather than reacting to unexpected ecosystem changes in the future. © 2015 The Authors Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.

An assessment of land conservation patterns in Maine based on spatial analysis of ecological and socioeconomic indicators.

PubMed

Cronan, Christopher S; Lilieholm, Robert J; Tremblay, Jill; Glidden, Timothy

2010-05-01

Given the nature of modern conservation acquisitions, which often result from gifts and opportunistic purchases of full or partial property rights, there is a risk that the resulting mosaic of conserved resources may not represent a coherent set of public values and benefits. With different public and private entities engaged in land conservation, one would further expect that each organization would apply separate goals and criteria to the selection and acquisition of its conservation portfolio. This set of circumstances raises an important question: what is the aggregate outcome of this land conservation process? Retrospective assessments provide a means of reviewing cumulative historical decisions and elucidating lessons for improving future conservation strategies. This study used GIS-based spatial analysis to examine the relationships of private and public conservation lands in Maine to a variety of landscape metrics in order to determine the degree to which these lands represent core ecological and socioeconomic values that are meaningful to a wide cross-section of citizens. Results revealed that the gains of past conservation efforts in Maine are counter-balanced to some extent by apparent gaps in the existing fabric of conservation holdings. Conservation lands capture a representative sample of diverse habitat, provide a large measure of protection for multiple conservation values and indicators, and offer an unusual mix of outdoor recreational opportunities for residents and visitors alike. Yet, the majority of parcels are relatively small and isolated, and thus do not provide contiguous habitat blocks that offset ongoing processes of landscape fragmentation. Furthermore, the majority of area associated with many of the ecological metrics examined in this report is located outside the boundaries of current conservation holdings. The under-represented metrics identified in this investigation can be viewed as potential targets for new strategic conservation initiatives.

An Assessment of Land Conservation Patterns in Maine Based on Spatial Analysis of Ecological and Socioeconomic Indicators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cronan, Christopher S.; Lilieholm, Robert J.; Tremblay, Jill; Glidden, Timothy

2010-05-01

Given the nature of modern conservation acquisitions, which often result from gifts and opportunistic purchases of full or partial property rights, there is a risk that the resulting mosaic of conserved resources may not represent a coherent set of public values and benefits. With different public and private entities engaged in land conservation, one would further expect that each organization would apply separate goals and criteria to the selection and acquisition of its conservation portfolio. This set of circumstances raises an important question: what is the aggregate outcome of this land conservation process? Retrospective assessments provide a means of reviewing cumulative historical decisions and elucidating lessons for improving future conservation strategies. This study used GIS-based spatial analysis to examine the relationships of private and public conservation lands in Maine to a variety of landscape metrics in order to determine the degree to which these lands represent core ecological and socioeconomic values that are meaningful to a wide cross-section of citizens. Results revealed that the gains of past conservation efforts in Maine are counter-balanced to some extent by apparent gaps in the existing fabric of conservation holdings. Conservation lands capture a representative sample of diverse habitat, provide a large measure of protection for multiple conservation values and indicators, and offer an unusual mix of outdoor recreational opportunities for residents and visitors alike. Yet, the majority of parcels are relatively small and isolated, and thus do not provide contiguous habitat blocks that offset ongoing processes of landscape fragmentation. Furthermore, the majority of area associated with many of the ecological metrics examined in this report is located outside the boundaries of current conservation holdings. The under-represented metrics identified in this investigation can be viewed as potential targets for new strategic conservation initiatives.

Effects of logging on roadless space in intact forest landscapes of the Congo Basin.

PubMed

Kleinschroth, Fritz; Healey, John R; Gourlet-Fleury, Sylvie; Mortier, Frédéric; Stoica, Radu S

2017-04-01

Forest degradation in the tropics is often associated with roads built for selective logging. The protection of intact forest landscapes (IFL) that are not accessible by roads is high on the biodiversity conservation agenda and a challenge for logging concessions certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). A frequently advocated conservation objective is to maximize the retention of roadless space, a concept that is based on distance to the nearest road from any point. We developed a novel use of the empty-space function - a general statistical tool based on stochastic geometry and random sets theory - to calculate roadless space in a part of the Congo Basin where road networks have been expanding rapidly. We compared the temporal development of roadless space in certified and uncertified logging concessions inside and outside areas declared IFL in 2000. Inside IFLs, road-network expansion led to a decrease in roadless space by more than half from 1999 to 2007. After 2007, loss leveled out in most areas to close to 0 due to an equilibrium between newly built roads and abandoned roads that became revegetated. However, concessions in IFL certified by FSC since around 2007 continuously lost roadless space and reached a level comparable to all other concessions. Only national parks remained mostly roadless. We recommend that forest-management policies make the preservation of large connected forest areas a top priority by effectively monitoring - and limiting - the occupation of space by roads that are permanently accessible. © 2016 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.

Grain-dependent responses of mammalian diversity to land use and the implications for conservation set-aside.

PubMed

Wearn, Oliver R; Carbone, Chris; Rowcliffe, J Marcus; Bernard, Henry; Ewers, Robert M

2016-07-01

Diversity responses to land-use change are poorly understood at local scales, hindering our ability to make forecasts and management recommendations at scales which are of practical relevance. A key barrier in this has been the underappreciation of grain-dependent diversity responses and the role that β-diversity (variation in community composition across space) plays in this. Decisions about the most effective spatial arrangement of conservation set-aside, for example high conservation value areas, have also neglected β-diversity, despite its role in determining the complementarity of sites. We examined local-scale mammalian species richness and β-diversity across old-growth forest, logged forest, and oil palm plantations in Borneo, using intensive camera- and live-trapping. For the first time, we were able to investigate diversity responses, as well as β-diversity, at multiple spatial grains, and across the whole terrestrial mammal community (large and small mammals); β-diversity was quantified by comparing observed β-diversity with that obtained under a null model, in order to control for sampling effects, and we refer to this as the β-diversity signal. Community responses to land use were grain dependent, with large mammals showing reduced richness in logged forest compared to old-growth forest at the grain of individual sampling points, but no change at the overall land-use level. Responses varied with species group, however, with small mammals increasing in richness at all grains in logged forest compared to old-growth forest. Both species groups were significantly depauperate in oil palm. Large mammal communities in old-growth forest became more heterogeneous at coarser spatial grains and small mammal communities became more homogeneous, while this pattern was reversed in logged forest. Both groups, however, showed a significant β-diversity signal at the finest grain in logged forest, likely due to logging-induced environmental heterogeneity. The β-diversity signal in oil palm was weak, but heterogeneity at the coarsest spatial grain was still evident, likely due to variation in landscape forest cover. Our findings suggest that the most effective spatial arrangement of set-aside will involve trade-offs between conserving large and small mammals. Greater consideration in the conservation and management of tropical landscapes needs to be given to β-diversity at a range of spatial grains. © 2016 by the Ecological Society of America.

Identifying species threat hotspots from global supply chains.

PubMed

Moran, Daniel; Kanemoto, Keiichiro

2017-01-04

Identifying hotspots of species threat has been a successful approach for setting conservation priorities. One important challenge in conservation is that, in many hotspots, export industries continue to drive overexploitation. Conservation measures must consider not just the point of impact, but also the consumer demand that ultimately drives resource use. To understand which species threat hotspots are driven by which consumers, we have developed a new approach to link a set of biodiversity footprint accounts to the hotspots of threatened species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The result is a map connecting consumption to spatially explicit hotspots driven by production on a global scale. Locating biodiversity threat hotspots driven by consumption of goods and services can help to connect conservationists, consumers, companies and governments in order to better target conservation actions.

Preserving the tree of life.

PubMed

Mace, Georgina M; Gittleman, John L; Purvis, Andy

2003-06-13

Phylogenies provide new ways to measure biodiversity, to assess conservation priorities, and to quantify the evolutionary history in any set of species. Methodological problems and a lack of knowledge about most species have so far hampered their use. In the future, as techniques improve and more data become accessible, we will have an expanded set of conservation options, including ways to prioritize outcomes from evolutionary and ecological processes.

24 CFR 990.185 - Utilities expense level: Incentives for energy conservation/rate reduction.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... the energy conservation measures and other direct costs related to the energy project under the... for energy conservation/rate reduction. 990.185 Section 990.185 Housing and Urban Development... Calculating Formula Expenses § 990.185 Utilities expense level: Incentives for energy conservation/rate...

24 CFR 990.185 - Utilities expense level: Incentives for energy conservation/rate reduction.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... the energy conservation measures and other direct costs related to the energy project under the... for energy conservation/rate reduction. 990.185 Section 990.185 Housing and Urban Development... Calculating Formula Expenses § 990.185 Utilities expense level: Incentives for energy conservation/rate...

24 CFR 990.185 - Utilities expense level: Incentives for energy conservation/rate reduction.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... the energy conservation measures and other direct costs related to the energy project under the... for energy conservation/rate reduction. 990.185 Section 990.185 Housing and Urban Development... Calculating Formula Expenses § 990.185 Utilities expense level: Incentives for energy conservation/rate...

Increasing participation in incentive programs for biodiversity conservation.

PubMed

Sorice, Michael G; Oh, Chi-Ok; Gartner, Todd; Snieckus, Mary; Johnson, Rhett; Donlan, C Josh

2013-07-01

Engaging private landowners in conservation activities for imperiled species is critical to maintaining and enhancing biodiversity. Market-based approaches can incentivize conservation behaviors on private lands by shifting the benefit-cost ratio of engaging in activities that result in net conservation benefits for target species. In the United States and elsewhere, voluntary conservation agreements with financial incentives are becoming an increasingly common strategy. While the influence of program design and delivery of voluntary conservation programs is often overlooked, these aspects are critical to achieving the necessary participation to attain landscape-scale outcomes. Using a sample of family-forest landowners in the southeast United States, we show how preferences for participation in a conservation program to protect an at-risk species, the gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus), are related to program structure, delivery, and perceived efficacy. Landowners were most sensitive to programs that are highly controlling, require permanent conservation easements, and put landowners at risk for future regulation. Programs designed with greater levels of compensation and that support landowners' autonomy to make land management decisions can increase participation and increase landowner acceptance of program components that are generally unfavorable, like long-term contracts and permanent easements. There is an inherent trade-off between maximizing participation and maximizing the conservation benefits when designing a conservation incentive program. For conservation programs targeting private lands to achieve landscape-level benefits, they must attract a critical level of participation that creates a connected mosaic of conservation benefits. Yet, programs with attributes that strive to maximize conservation benefits within a single agreement (and reduce risks of failure) are likely to have lower participation, and thus lower landscape benefits. Achieving levels of landowner participation in conservation agreement programs that deliver lasting, landscape-level benefits requires careful attention not only to how the program structure influences potential conservation benefits, but also how it influences landowners and their potential to participate.

Identifying Markers of Dignity-Conserving Care in Long-Term Care: A Modified Delphi Study

PubMed Central

Thompson, Genevieve N.; McArthur, Jennifer; Doupe, Malcolm

2016-01-01

Ensuring that people living in nursing homes (NHs) are afforded with dignity in their daily lives is an essential and humane concern. Promoting dignity-conserving care is fundamentally important. By nature, however, this care is all-encompassing and holistic, and from current knowledge it is challenging to create explicit strategies for measuring dignity-conserving care. In practice the majority of current NH indicators of quality care are derived from information that is routinely collected on NH residents using the RAI-Minimum Data Set (MDS). In this regard, issues that are more tangible to resident dignity such as being treated with respect, compassion, and having opportunities to engage with others are not adequately captured in current NH quality of care indicators. An initial set of markers was created by conducting an integrative literature review of existing markers and indicators of dignity in the NH setting. A modified Delphi process was used to prioritize essential dignity-conserving care markers for use by NH providers, based on factors such as the importance to fostering a culture of dignity, the impact it may have on the residents, and how achievable it is in practice. Through this consensus building technique, we were able to develop a comprehensive set of markers that capture the range and diversity of important dignity-conserving care strategies for use in NHs. The final 10 markers were judged as having high face validity by experts in the field and have explicit implications for enhancing the provision of daily dignified care to NH residents. These markers make an important addition to the traditional quality indicators used in the NH setting and as such, bridge an important gap in addressing the psychosocial and the less easily quantified needs of NH residents. PMID:27304853

Using ecological thresholds to evaluate the costs and benefits of set-asides in a biodiversity hotspot.

PubMed

Banks-Leite, Cristina; Pardini, Renata; Tambosi, Leandro R; Pearse, William D; Bueno, Adriana A; Bruscagin, Roberta T; Condez, Thais H; Dixo, Marianna; Igari, Alexandre T; Martensen, Alexandre C; Metzger, Jean Paul

2014-08-29

Ecological set-asides are a promising strategy for conserving biodiversity in human-modified landscapes; however, landowner participation is often precluded by financial constraints. We assessed the ecological benefits and economic costs of paying landowners to set aside private land for restoration. Benefits were calculated from data on nearly 25,000 captures of Brazilian Atlantic Forest vertebrates, and economic costs were estimated for several restoration scenarios and values of payment for ecosystem services. We show that an annual investment equivalent to 6.5% of what Brazil spends on agricultural subsidies would revert species composition and ecological functions across farmlands to levels found inside protected areas, thereby benefiting local people. Hence, efforts to secure the future of this and other biodiversity hotspots may be cost-effective. Copyright © 2014, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

A conservation law for virus infection kinetics in vitro.

PubMed

Kakizoe, Yusuke; Morita, Satoru; Nakaoka, Shinji; Takeuchi, Yasuhiro; Sato, Kei; Miura, Tomoyuki; Beauchemin, Catherine A A; Iwami, Shingo

2015-07-07

Conservation laws are among the most important properties of a physical system, but are not commonplace in biology. We derived a conservation law from the basic model for viral infections which consists in a small set of ordinary differential equations. We challenged the conservation law experimentally for the case of a virus infection in a cell culture. We found that the derived, conserved quantity remained almost constant throughout the infection period, implying that the derived conservation law holds in this biological system. We also suggest a potential use for the conservation law in evaluating the accuracy of experimental measurements. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Minimum viable populations: Is there a 'magic number' for conservation practitioners?

Treesearch

Curtis H. Flather; Gregory D. Hayward; Steven R. Beissinger; Philip A. Stephens

2011-01-01

Establishing species conservation priorities and recovery goals is often enhanced by extinction risk estimates. The need to set goals, even in data-deficient situations, has prompted researchers to ask whether general guidelines could replace individual estimates of extinction risk. To inform conservation policy, recent studies have revived the concept of the minimum...

75 FR 81258 - Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Notice of Petition for Waiver of Electrolux...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-27

... INFORMATION: I. Background and Authority Title III of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (``EPCA'') sets... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy [Case No. CW-017] Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Notice of Petition for Waiver of Electrolux Home Products, Inc...

Ex situ conservation priorities for the wild relatives of potato (Solanum L. section Petota)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

We analyzed the contemporary ex situ conservation coverage of the wild relatives of cultivated potato (Solanum section Petota) to set priorities and guide future collections and conservation. We conducted a gap analysis for 73 taxa involving seven, 63 and three species from the primary, secondary an...

Split diversity in constrained conservation prioritization using integer linear programming.

PubMed

Chernomor, Olga; Minh, Bui Quang; Forest, Félix; Klaere, Steffen; Ingram, Travis; Henzinger, Monika; von Haeseler, Arndt

2015-01-01

Phylogenetic diversity (PD) is a measure of biodiversity based on the evolutionary history of species. Here, we discuss several optimization problems related to the use of PD, and the more general measure split diversity (SD), in conservation prioritization.Depending on the conservation goal and the information available about species, one can construct optimization routines that incorporate various conservation constraints. We demonstrate how this information can be used to select sets of species for conservation action. Specifically, we discuss the use of species' geographic distributions, the choice of candidates under economic pressure, and the use of predator-prey interactions between the species in a community to define viability constraints.Despite such optimization problems falling into the area of NP hard problems, it is possible to solve them in a reasonable amount of time using integer programming. We apply integer linear programming to a variety of models for conservation prioritization that incorporate the SD measure.We exemplarily show the results for two data sets: the Cape region of South Africa and a Caribbean coral reef community. Finally, we provide user-friendly software at http://www.cibiv.at/software/pda.

Controlling the impact of the managed honeybee on wild bees in protected areas.

PubMed

Henry, Mickaël; Rodet, Guy

2018-06-18

In recent years, conservation biologists have raised awareness about the risk of ecological interference between massively introduced managed honeybees and the native wild bee fauna in protected natural areas. In this study, we surveyed wild bees and quantified their nectar and pollen foraging success in a rosemary Mediterranean scrubland in southern France, under different conditions of apiary size and proximity. We found that high-density beekeeping triggers foraging competition which depresses not only the occurrence (-55%) and nectar foraging success (-50%) of local wild bees but also nectar (-44%) and pollen (-36%) harvesting by the honeybees themselves. Overall, those competition effects spanned distances of 600-1.100 m around apiaries, i.e. covering 1.1-3.8km 2 areas. Regardless the considered competition criterion, setting distance thresholds among apiaries appeared more tractable than setting colony density thresholds for beekeeping regulation. Moreover, the intraspecific competition among the honeybees has practical implications for beekeepers. It shows that the local carrying capacity has been exceeded and raises concerns for honey yields and colony sustainability. It also offers an effective ecological criterion for pragmatic decision-making whenever conservation practitioners envision progressively reducing beekeeping in protected areas. Although specific to the studied area, the recommendations provided here may help raise consciousness about the threat high-density beekeeping may pose to local nature conservation initiatives, especially in areas with sensitive or endangered plant or bee species such as small oceanic islands with high levels of endemism.

Building on the International Year of Astronomy: The Dark Skies Awareness Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walker, C. E.; Sparks, R. T.; Pompea, S. M.

2010-08-01

The International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) offered opportunities to create exemplary educational programs in astronomy, such as those through the cornerstone project, Dark Skies Awareness (DSA). The preservation of dark skies is important for many reasons including astronomy, energy conservation, wildlife conservation, and even human health. Light pollution is a growing concern, yet it is one of the easiest global environmental problems citizen scientists can address on a local level. The Dark Skies workshop imparted the skills necessary for participants to lead activities at their home institution for conserving dark skies. Workshop participants experienced the hands-on activities, which are suitable for use in a variety of settings including museums, science centers, planetariums, schools, university outreach efforts, and astronomy club events. Participants were immersed in activities that illustrate proper lighting, light pollution's effects on wildlife, and how to measure the darkness of your skies. Several citizen science projects were highlighted, including GLOBE at Night, the Great World Wide Star Count, and How Many Stars. These programs enlist the help of students and the general public to collect data on the night sky conditions in their community and contribute to a worldwide database on light pollution. The data can be analyzed using various online tools. A CD of activities, a light shielding demonstration, a book, a two DVD set with a planetarium show, and many other resources are included in a Dark Skies Education Kit, which workshop participants received at the close of the workshop.

Prevalence of Barriers and Facilitators to Enhancing Conservative Kidney Management for Older Adults in the Primary Care Setting.

PubMed

Tam-Tham, Helen; King-Shier, Kathryn M; Thomas, Chandra M; Quinn, Robert R; Fruetel, Karen; Davison, Sara N; Hemmelgarn, Brenda R

2016-11-07

Conservative management of adults with stage 5 CKD (eGFR<15 ml/min per 1.73 m 2 ) is increasingly being provided in the primary care setting. We aimed to examine perceived barriers and facilitators for conservative management of older adults by primary care physicians. In 2015, we conducted a cross-sectional, population-based survey of all primary care physicians in Alberta, Canada. Eligible participants had experience caring for adults ages ≥75 years old with stage 5 CKD not planning on initiating dialysis. Questionnaire items were on the basis of a qualitative descriptive study informed by the Behavior Change Wheel and tested for face and content validity. Physicians were contacted via postal mail and/or fax on the basis of a modified Dillman method. Four hundred nine eligible primary care physicians completed the questionnaire (9.6% response rate). The majority of respondents were men (61.6%), were ages 40-60 years old (62.6%), and practiced in a large/medium population center (68.0%). The most common barrier to providing conservative care in the primary care setting was the inability to access support to maintain patients in the home setting (39.1% of respondents; 95% confidence interval, 34.6% to 43.6%). The second most common barrier was working with nonphysician providers with limited kidney-specific clinical expertise (32.3%; 95% confidence interval, 28.0% to 36.7%). Primary care physicians indicated that the two most common strategies that would enhance their ability to provide conservative management would be the ability to use the telephone to contact a nephrologist or clinical staff from the conservative care clinic (86.9%; 95% confidence interval, 83.7% to 90.0% and 85.6%; 95% confidence interval, 82.4% to 88.9%, respectively). We identified important areas to inform clinical programs to reduce barriers and enhance facilitators to improve primary care physicians' provision of conservative kidney care. In particular, primary care physicians require additional resources for maintaining patients in their home and telephone access to nephrologists and conservative care specialists. Copyright © 2016 by the American Society of Nephrology.

Application and optimization of input parameter spaces in mass flow modelling: a case study with r.randomwalk and r.ranger

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krenn, Julia; Zangerl, Christian; Mergili, Martin

2017-04-01

r.randomwalk is a GIS-based, multi-functional, conceptual open source model application for forward and backward analyses of the propagation of mass flows. It relies on a set of empirically derived, uncertain input parameters. In contrast to many other tools, r.randomwalk accepts input parameter ranges (or, in case of two or more parameters, spaces) in order to directly account for these uncertainties. Parameter spaces represent a possibility to withdraw from discrete input values which in most cases are likely to be off target. r.randomwalk automatically performs multiple calculations with various parameter combinations in a given parameter space, resulting in the impact indicator index (III) which denotes the fraction of parameter value combinations predicting an impact on a given pixel. Still, there is a need to constrain the parameter space used for a certain process type or magnitude prior to performing forward calculations. This can be done by optimizing the parameter space in terms of bringing the model results in line with well-documented past events. As most existing parameter optimization algorithms are designed for discrete values rather than for ranges or spaces, the necessity for a new and innovative technique arises. The present study aims at developing such a technique and at applying it to derive guiding parameter spaces for the forward calculation of rock avalanches through back-calculation of multiple events. In order to automatize the work flow we have designed r.ranger, an optimization and sensitivity analysis tool for parameter spaces which can be directly coupled to r.randomwalk. With r.ranger we apply a nested approach where the total value range of each parameter is divided into various levels of subranges. All possible combinations of subranges of all parameters are tested for the performance of the associated pattern of III. Performance indicators are the area under the ROC curve (AUROC) and the factor of conservativeness (FoC). This strategy is best demonstrated for two input parameters, but can be extended arbitrarily. We use a set of small rock avalanches from western Austria, and some larger ones from Canada and New Zealand, to optimize the basal friction coefficient and the mass-to-drag ratio of the two-parameter friction model implemented with r.randomwalk. Thereby we repeat the optimization procedure with conservative and non-conservative assumptions of a set of complementary parameters and with different raster cell sizes. Our preliminary results indicate that the model performance in terms of AUROC achieved with broad parameter spaces is hardly surpassed by the performance achieved with narrow parameter spaces. However, broad spaces may result in very conservative or very non-conservative predictions. Therefore, guiding parameter spaces have to be (i) broad enough to avoid the risk of being off target; and (ii) narrow enough to ensure a reasonable level of conservativeness of the results. The next steps will consist in (i) extending the study to other types of mass flow processes in order to support forward calculations using r.randomwalk; and (ii) in applying the same strategy to the more complex, dynamic model r.avaflow.

A spatial approach to combatting wildlife crime.

PubMed

Faulkner, S C; Stevens, M C A; Romañach, S S; Lindsey, P A; Le Comber, S C

2018-06-01

Poaching can have devastating impacts on animal and plant numbers, and in many countries has reached crisis levels, with illegal hunters employing increasingly sophisticated techniques. We used data from an 8-year study in Savé Valley Conservancy, Zimbabwe, to show how geographic profiling-a mathematical technique originally developed in criminology and recently applied to animal foraging and epidemiology-can be adapted for use in investigations of wildlife crime. The data set contained information on over 10,000 incidents of illegal hunting and the deaths of 6,454 wild animals. We used a subset of data for which the illegal hunters' identities were known. Our model identified the illegal hunters' home villages based on the spatial locations of the hunting incidences (e.g., snares). Identification of the villages was improved by manipulating the probability surface inside the conservancy to reflect the fact that although the illegal hunters mostly live outside the conservancy, the majority of hunting occurs inside the conservancy (in criminology terms, commuter crime). These results combined with rigorous simulations showed for the first time how geographic profiling can be combined with GIS data and applied to situations with more complex spatial patterns, for example, where landscape heterogeneity means some parts of the study area are less likely to be used (e.g., aquatic areas for terrestrial animals) or where landscape permeability differs (e.g., forest bats tend not to fly over open areas). More broadly, these results show how geographic profiling can be used to target antipoaching interventions more effectively and more efficiently and to develop management strategies and conservation plans in a range of conservation scenarios. © 2017 Society for Conservation Biology.

Data and methodological problems in establishing state gasoline-conservation targets

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Greene, D.L.; Walton, G.H.

The Emergency Energy Conservation Act of 1979 gives the President the authority to set gasoline-conservation targets for states in the event of a supply shortage. This paper examines data and methodological problems associated with setting state gasoline-conservation targets. The target-setting method currently used is examined and found to have some flaws. Ways of correcting these deficiencies through the use of Box-Jenkins time-series analysis are investigated. A successful estimation of Box-Jenkins models for all states included the estimation of the magnitude of the supply shortages of 1979 in each state and a preliminary estimation of state short-run price elasticities, which weremore » found to vary about a median value of -0.16. The time-series models identified were very simple in structure and lent support to the simple consumption growth model assumed by the current target method. The authors conclude that the flaws in the current method can be remedied either by replacing the current procedures with time-series models or by using the models in conjunction with minor modifications of the current method.« less

Drivers of extinction risk in African mammals: the interplay of distribution state, human pressure, conservation response and species biology

PubMed Central

Di Marco, Moreno; Buchanan, Graeme M.; Szantoi, Zoltan; Holmgren, Milena; Grottolo Marasini, Gabriele; Gross, Dorit; Tranquilli, Sandra; Boitani, Luigi; Rondinini, Carlo

2014-01-01

Although conservation intervention has reversed the decline of some species, our success is outweighed by a much larger number of species moving towards extinction. Extinction risk modelling can identify correlates of risk and species not yet recognized to be threatened. Here, we use machine learning models to identify correlates of extinction risk in African terrestrial mammals using a set of variables belonging to four classes: species distribution state, human pressures, conservation response and species biology. We derived information on distribution state and human pressure from satellite-borne imagery. Variables in all four classes were identified as important predictors of extinction risk, and interactions were observed among variables in different classes (e.g. level of protection, human threats, species distribution ranges). Species biology had a key role in mediating the effect of external variables. The model was 90% accurate in classifying extinction risk status of species, but in a few cases the observed and modelled extinction risk mismatched. Species in this condition might suffer from an incorrect classification of extinction risk (hence require reassessment). An increased availability of satellite imagery combined with improved resolution and classification accuracy of the resulting maps will play a progressively greater role in conservation monitoring. PMID:24733953

Drivers of extinction risk in African mammals: the interplay of distribution state, human pressure, conservation response and species biology.

PubMed

Di Marco, Moreno; Buchanan, Graeme M; Szantoi, Zoltan; Holmgren, Milena; Grottolo Marasini, Gabriele; Gross, Dorit; Tranquilli, Sandra; Boitani, Luigi; Rondinini, Carlo

2014-01-01

Although conservation intervention has reversed the decline of some species, our success is outweighed by a much larger number of species moving towards extinction. Extinction risk modelling can identify correlates of risk and species not yet recognized to be threatened. Here, we use machine learning models to identify correlates of extinction risk in African terrestrial mammals using a set of variables belonging to four classes: species distribution state, human pressures, conservation response and species biology. We derived information on distribution state and human pressure from satellite-borne imagery. Variables in all four classes were identified as important predictors of extinction risk, and interactions were observed among variables in different classes (e.g. level of protection, human threats, species distribution ranges). Species biology had a key role in mediating the effect of external variables. The model was 90% accurate in classifying extinction risk status of species, but in a few cases the observed and modelled extinction risk mismatched. Species in this condition might suffer from an incorrect classification of extinction risk (hence require reassessment). An increased availability of satellite imagery combined with improved resolution and classification accuracy of the resulting maps will play a progressively greater role in conservation monitoring.

Population Genetic Patterns of Threatened European Mudminnow (Umbra krameri Walbaum, 1792) in a Fragmented Landscape: Implications for Conservation Management

PubMed Central

Takács, Péter; Erős, Tibor; Specziár, András; Sály, Péter; Vitál, Zoltán; Ferincz, Árpád; Molnár, Tamás; Szabolcsi, Zoltán; Bíró, Péter; Csoma, Eszter

2015-01-01

The European mudminnow (Umbra krameri) is a Middle Danubian endemic fish species, which is characterised by isolated populations living mainly in artificial habitats in the centre of its range, in the Carpathian Basin. For their long term preservation, reliable information is needed about the structure of stocks and the level of isolation. The recent distribution pattern, and the population genetic structure within and among regions were investigated to designate the Evolutionary Significant, Conservation and Management Units (ESUs, CUs, MUs) and to explore the conservation biological value of the shrinking populations. In total, eight microsatellite loci were studied in 404 specimens originating from eight regions. The results revealed a pronounced population structure, where strictly limited gene flow was detected among regions, as well as various strengths of connections within regions. Following the results of hierarchical structure analyses, two ESUs were supposed in the Carpathian Basin, corresponding to the Danube and Tisza catchments. Our results recommend designating the borders of CUs in an 80–90km range and 16 clusters should be set up as MUs for the 33 investigated populations. How these genetic findings can be used to better allocate conservation resources for the long term maintenance of the metapopulation structure of this threathened endemic fish is discussed. PMID:26393510

Rapid comparison of protein binding site surfaces with Property Encoded Shape Distributions (PESD)

PubMed Central

Das, Sourav; Kokardekar, Arshad

2009-01-01

Patterns in shape and property distributions on the surface of binding sites are often conserved across functional proteins without significant conservation of the underlying amino-acid residues. To explore similarities of these sites from the viewpoint of a ligand, a sequence and fold-independent method was created to rapidly and accurately compare binding sites of proteins represented by property-mapped triangulated Gauss-Connolly surfaces. Within this paradigm, signatures for each binding site surface are produced by calculating their property-encoded shape distributions (PESD), a measure of the probability that a particular property will be at a specific distance to another on the molecular surface. Similarity between the signatures can then be treated as a measure of similarity between binding sites. As postulated, the PESD method rapidly detected high levels of similarity in binding site surface characteristics even in cases where there was very low similarity at the sequence level. In a screening experiment involving each member of the PDBBind 2005 dataset as a query against the rest of the set, PESD was able to retrieve a binding site with identical E.C. (Enzyme Commission) numbers as the top match in 79.5% of cases. The ability of the method in detecting similarity in binding sites with low sequence conservations were compared with state-of-the-art binding site comparison methods. PMID:19919089

Assessment of the Ecosystem Services Capacity in Natural Protected Areas for Biodiversity Conservation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ronchi, Silvia; Salata, Stefano

2017-10-01

Recently, in Italy, a legislative proposal has been set to reform the role and the functions of natural protected areas promoting their aggregation (or the abolition) pursuing a better efficiency for their administration and economic saving. The system of natural protected areas is composed of different conservation levels: there are the Natural parks, established in the ‘80 by national or regional institution for the safeguard of natural elements, the Natura 2000 -Habitat 92/43/CEE promoted by European Union, with conservation measures for maintaining or restoring habitats and species of Communitarian interest, and the local parks of supra-municipal interest (namely PLIS) created by single municipalities or their aggregation aimed at limiting the soil sealing process. The hierarchical level of protection has determined differences in the management of the areas which leads to various approaches and strategies for biodiversity conservation and integrity. In order to assess strengths and weaknesses of the legislative initiative, the new management framework should be designed, considering the ecosystem characteristics of each natural protected area to define the future opportunities and critics, rather than, in the extreme case, remove the level of protection due to the absence of valuable ecosystem conditions. The paper provides an operative support to better apply the legislative proposal investigating the dynamics that affect all protected areas using the land take process as a major threat to biodiversity conservation in natural zones. The land take process is explored using the Land Use Change analysis (LUCa) as a possible way to determine the impact and the environmental effects of land transitions. LUCa is also useful to determine the loss of protected zones capacity to support Ecosystem Services. Finally, the assessment of the Ecosystem Services Capacity (ESC) index expresses the ability of each LULC to provide ES and, in particular, the Ecological Integrity, Regulating Services and Provisioning Services. The efficacy of the proposal is tested in the Lombardy Region (Northwest of Italy) where the natural protected areas are more than 500 with a territorial extension of 740 thousand hectares that correspond to 31% of the regional surface.

Hydrologic connection between ponds positively affects macrophyte alpha and gamma diversity but negatively affects beta diversity.

PubMed

Akasaka, Munemitsu; Takamura, Noriko

2012-05-01

Connections between habitat patches can positively influence the number of species in respective patches, providing a basis for preferentially conserving interconnected patches. However, from a regional perspective, it is not known whether conserving multiple sets of interconnected habitat patches would include more species (i.e., show higher gamma diversity) than conserving multiple, unconnected, solitary patches. We studied aquatic macrophytes in 15 sets of unidirectionally interconnected ponds and 19 unconnected ponds and also tested whether alpha and beta diversity, expressed as the number of species and dissimilarity in species composition, respectively, differed between connected and unconnected ponds. We found that gamma diversity was higher in connected ponds than in unconnected ponds, even after controlling for surface area. This resulted from a higher alpha diversity in connected ponds, despite lower beta diversity. These results suggest that connections between habitat patches positively influence diversity at both local and regional scales. When the total surface area available for conservation is limited, interconnected habitat patches should be preferentially conserved.

Final project memorandum: sea-level rise modeling handbook: resource guide for resource managers, engineers, and scientists

USGS Publications Warehouse

Doyle, Thomas W.

2015-01-01

Coastal wetlands of the Southeastern United States are undergoing retreat and migration from increasing tidal inundation and saltwater intrusion attributed to climate variability and sea-level rise. Much of the literature describing potential sea-level rise projections and modeling predictions are found in peer-reviewed academic journals or government technical reports largely suited to reading by other Ph.D. scientists who are more familiar or engaged in the climate change debate. Various sea-level rise and coastal wetland models have been developed and applied of different designs and scales of spatial and temporal complexity for predicting habitat and environmental change that have not heretofore been synthesized to aid natural resource managers of their utility and limitations. Training sessions were conducted with Federal land managers with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and NOAA National Estuarine Research Reserves as well as state partners and nongovernmental organizations across the northern Gulf Coast from Florida to Texas to educate and to evaluate user needs and understanding of concepts, data, and modeling tools for projecting sea-level rise and its impact on coastal habitats and wildlife. As a result, this handbook was constructed from these training and feedback sessions with coastal managers and biologists of published decision-support tools and simulation models for sea-level rise and climate change assessments. A simplified tabular context was developed listing the various kinds of decision-support tools and ecological models along with criteria to distinguish the source, scale, and quality of information input and geographic data sets, physical and biological constraints and relationships, datum characteristics of water and land elevation components, utility options for setting sea-level rise and climate change scenarios, and ease or difficulty of storing, displaying, or interpreting model output. The handbook is designed to be a primer to understanding sea-level rise and a practical synthesis of the current state of knowledge and modeling tools as a resource guide for DOl land management needs and facilitating Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC) research and conservation initiatives.

Micro-Credit and Community Wildlife Management: Complementary Strategies to Improve Conservation Outcomes in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaaya, Emmanuel; Chapman, Margaret

2017-09-01

Community wildlife management programs in African protected areas aim to deliver livelihood and social benefits to local communities in order to bolster support for their conservation objectives. Most of these benefits are delivered at the community level. However, many local people are also seeking more individual or household-level livelihood benefits from community wildlife management programs because it is at this level that many of the costs of protected area conservation are borne. Because community wildlife management delivers few benefits at this level, support for their conservation objectives amongst local people often declines. The study investigated the implications of this for reducing poaching in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Three community wildlife management initiatives undertaken by Park management were compared with regard to their capacity to deliver the individual and household-level benefits sought by local people: community conservation services, wildlife management areas and community conservation banks. Interviews were carried out with poachers and local people from four villages in the Western Serengeti including members of village conservation banks, as well as a number of key informants. The results suggest that community conservation banks could, as a complementary strategy to existing community wildlife management programs, potentially provide a more effective means of reducing poaching in African protected areas than community wildlife management programs alone.

Improving protein-protein interaction prediction using evolutionary information from low-quality MSAs.

PubMed

Várnai, Csilla; Burkoff, Nikolas S; Wild, David L

2017-01-01

Evolutionary information stored in multiple sequence alignments (MSAs) has been used to identify the interaction interface of protein complexes, by measuring either co-conservation or co-mutation of amino acid residues across the interface. Recently, maximum entropy related correlated mutation measures (CMMs) such as direct information, decoupling direct from indirect interactions, have been developed to identify residue pairs interacting across the protein complex interface. These studies have focussed on carefully selected protein complexes with large, good-quality MSAs. In this work, we study protein complexes with a more typical MSA consisting of fewer than 400 sequences, using a set of 79 intramolecular protein complexes. Using a maximum entropy based CMM at the residue level, we develop an interface level CMM score to be used in re-ranking docking decoys. We demonstrate that our interface level CMM score compares favourably to the complementarity trace score, an evolutionary information-based score measuring co-conservation, when combined with the number of interface residues, a knowledge-based potential and the variability score of individual amino acid sites. We also demonstrate, that, since co-mutation and co-complementarity in the MSA contain orthogonal information, the best prediction performance using evolutionary information can be achieved by combining the co-mutation information of the CMM with co-conservation information of a complementarity trace score, predicting a near-native structure as the top prediction for 41% of the dataset. The method presented is not restricted to small MSAs, and will likely improve interface prediction also for complexes with large and good-quality MSAs.

A Selected List of Filmstrips on the Conservation of Natural Resources, Number 5.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adams, Jean Larson; Michaud, Howard H.

This pamphlet describes 115 conservation filmstrips as to content, sources, suggested grade level(s), curriculum area(s), and notes of interest to the user. The filmstrips are divided into the following areas: (1) general conservation, (2) ecology and resource interrelationships, (3) forest trees and other plants, (4) forest conservation, (5)…

Effects of a Conservation Education Camp Program on Campers' Self-Reported Knowledge, Attitude, and Behavior

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kruse, Cara K.; Card, Jaclyn A.

2004-01-01

In this study, the authors examined the effects of a conservation education camp program offered through one zoo education department. The conservation education program included 4 levels of camps with increasing levels of animal husbandry. Campers rated their conservation knowledge, attitude, and behavior prior to, immediately after, and 1 month…

A COMPARISON OF TAXONOMIC DISTINCTNESS VERSUS RICHNESS AS CRITERIA FOR SETTING CONSERVATION PRIORITIES FOR NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. (R825311)

EPA Science Inventory

Abstract

In choosing sites for a conservation reserve network, representation of the greatest number of species in the sites selected is a common objective. This approach implicitly assumes that all species have equal conservation value. An alternative objective is to ...

A coupled-mode theory for multiwaveguide systems satisfying the reciprocity theorem and power conservation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chuang, Shun-Lien

1987-01-01

Two sets of coupled-mode equations for multiwaveguide systems are derived using a generalized reciprocity relation; one set for a lossless system, and the other for a general lossy or lossless system. The second set of equations also reduces to those of the first set in the lossless case under the condition that the transverse field components are chosen to be real. Analytical relations between the coupling coefficients are shown and applied to the coupling of mode equations. It is shown analytically that these results satisfy exactly both the reciprocity theorem and power conservation. New orthogonal relations between the supermodes are derived in matrix form, with the overlap integrals taken into account.

Rapid Diversity Loss of Competing Animal Species in Well-Connected Landscapes

PubMed Central

Schippers, Peter; Hemerik, Lia; Baveco, Johannes M.; Verboom, Jana

2015-01-01

Population viability of a single species, when evaluated with metapopulation based landscape evaluation tools, always increases when the connectivity of the landscape increases. However, when interactions between species are taken into account, results can differ. We explore this issue using a stochastic spatially explicit meta-community model with 21 competing species in five different competitive settings: (1) weak, coexisting competition, (2) neutral competition, (3) strong, excluding competition, (4) hierarchical competition and (5) random species competition. The species compete in randomly generated landscapes with various fragmentation levels. With this model we study species loss over time. Simulation results show that overall diversity, the species richness in the entire landscape, decreases slowly in fragmented landscapes whereas in well-connected landscapes rapid species losses occur. These results are robust with respect to changing competitive settings, species parameters and spatial configurations. They indicate that optimal landscape configuration for species conservation differs between metapopulation approaches, modelling species separately and meta-community approaches allowing species interactions. The mechanism behind this is that species in well-connected landscapes rapidly outcompete each other. Species that become abundant, by chance or by their completive strength, send out large amounts of dispersers that colonize and take over other patches that are occupied by species that are less abundant. This mechanism causes rapid species loss. In fragmented landscapes the colonization rate is lower, and it is difficult for a new species to establish in an already occupied patch. So, here dominant species cannot easily take over patches occupied by other species and higher diversity is maintained for a longer time. These results suggest that fragmented landscapes have benefits for species conservation previously unrecognized by the landscape ecology and policy community. When species interactions are important, landscapes with a low fragmentation level can be better for species conservation than well-connected landscapes. Moreover, our results indicate that metapopulation based landscape evaluation tools may overestimate the value of connectivity and should be replaced by more realistic meta-community based tools. PMID:26218682

Effects of management tactics on meeting conservation objectives for Western North American groundfish fisheries.

PubMed

Melnychuk, Michael C; Banobi, Jeannette A; Hilborn, Ray

2013-01-01

There is considerable variability in the status of fish populations around the world and a poor understanding of how specific management characteristics affect populations. Overfishing is a major problem in many fisheries, but in some regions the recent tendency has been to exploit stocks at levels below their maximum sustainable yield. In Western North American groundfish fisheries, the status of individual stocks and management systems among regions are highly variable. In this paper, we show the current status of groundfish stocks from Alaska, British Columbia, and the U.S. West Coast, and quantify the influence on stock status of six management tactics often hypothesized to affect groundfish. These tactics are: the use of harvest control rules with estimated biological reference points; seasonal closures; marine reserves; bycatch constraints; individual quotas (i.e., 'catch shares'); and gear type. Despite the high commercial value of many groundfish and consequent incentives for maintaining stocks at their most productive levels, most stocks were managed extremely conservatively, with current exploitation rates at only 40% of management targets and biomass 33% above target biomass on average. Catches rarely exceeded TACs but on occasion were far below TACs (mean catch:TAC ratio of 57%); approximately $150 million of potential landed value was foregone annually by underutilizing TACs. The use of individual quotas, marine reserves, and harvest control rules with estimated limit reference points had little overall effect on stock status. More valuable fisheries were maintained closer to management targets and were less variable over time than stocks with lower catches or ex-vessel prices. Together these results suggest there is no single effective management measure for meeting conservation objectives; if scientifically established quotas are set and enforced, a variety of means can be used to ensure that exploitation rates and biomass levels are near to or more conservative than management targets.

Bird community specialization, bird conservation and disturbance: the role of wildfires.

PubMed

Clavero, Miguel; Brotons, Lluís; Herrando, Sergi

2011-01-01

1. Although niche theory predicts that disturbance should favour generalist species, the community-level implications of this pattern have been sparsely analysed. Here, we test the hypothesis that disturbance favours generalist species within communities, analysing effects of wildfires in bird communities in a Mediterranean climate area as a case study. 2. We use bird occurrence data in more than 500 1 × 1 km squares forming a gradient running from forest to completely burnt areas. The level of specialization of bird communities was estimated by means of three complementary species specialization indices, calculated for different landscape gradients and averaged at the community level (i.e. 1 × 1 km squares), and mean species rarity. 3. We also calculated mean habitat preferences along landscape gradients, as well as an index of conservation value and total species richness. 4. Different estimators of bird community specialization varied in contrasting fashion along the wildfire disturbance gradient, and thus we conclude that it is not justified to expect unique community responses to the sharp variations in habitat characteristics brought by wildfire disturbances. 5. Burnt areas tended to have rarer and urban-avoider bird species, whereas unburnt forests tended to have larger proportions of forest specialist species. 6. The mean conservation value of communities clearly increased towards the burnt extreme of the wildfire disturbance gradient, while this had a negligible effect on species richness. 7. Wildfires seem to play an important role for the maintenance of open-habitat, urban-avoider bird populations in Mediterranean landscapes and also to benefit a set of bird species of unfavourable European conservation status. 8. In this context, it cannot be unambiguously concluded that fire disturbance, even in a context in which fires are greatly favoured by human-related activities, leads to more functionally simplified communities dominated by generalist species. © 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 British Ecological Society.

Ground-water levels in the alluvial aquifer in Eastern Arkansas, 1989

USGS Publications Warehouse

Westerfield, P.W.; Baxter, C.R.

1990-01-01

This report, prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission, the U.S. Soil Conservation Service and local Conservation Districts, contains groundwater level measurements of 504 wells that tap the alluvial aquifer in the Quaternary deposits of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain. The measurements were made by district Soil Conservation Service personnel during 1989. The shallowest prepumping season water levels occurred in Clay, Greene, Independence, Mississippi, Phillips, and Randolph Counties where water levels averaged less than 20 ft below the land surface. The deepest water levels occurred in Arkansas, Lonoke, Poinsett, and Prairie Counties where water levels of more than 100 ft were measured. Water levels in the postpumping season averaged about 2.5 ft lower than during the prepumping season. (USGS)

Using Analysis of Governance to Unpack Community-Based Conservation: A Case Study from Tanzania.

PubMed

Robinson, Lance W; Makupa, Enock

2015-11-01

Community-based conservation policies and programs are often hollow with little real devolution. But to pass a judgment of community-based or not community-based on such initiatives and programs obscures what is actually a suite of attributes. In this paper, we analyze governance around a specific case of what is nominally community-based conservation-Ikona Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Tanzania-using two complementary sets of criteria. The first relates to governance "powers": planning powers, regulatory powers, spending powers, revenue-generating powers, and the power to enter into agreements. The second set of criteria derive from the understanding of governance as a set of social functions: social coordination, shaping power, setting direction, and building community. The analysis helps to detail ways in which the Tanzanian state through policy and regulations has constrained the potential for Ikona WMA to empower communities and community actors. Although it has some features of community-based conservation, community input into how the governance social functions would be carried out in the WMA was constrained from the start and is now largely out of community hands. The two governance powers that have any significant community-based flavor-spending powers and revenue-generating powers-relate to the WMA's tourism activities, but even here the picture is equivocal at best. The unpacking of governance that we have done, however, reveals that community empowerment through the processes associated with creating and recognizing indigenous and community-conserved areas is something that can be pursued through multiple channels, some of which might be more strategic than others.

Identification of a conserved set of upregulated genes in mouse skeletal muscle hypertrophy and regrowth.

PubMed

Chaillou, Thomas; Jackson, Janna R; England, Jonathan H; Kirby, Tyler J; Richards-White, Jena; Esser, Karyn A; Dupont-Versteegden, Esther E; McCarthy, John J

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to compare the gene expression profile of mouse skeletal muscle undergoing two forms of growth (hypertrophy and regrowth) with the goal of identifying a conserved set of differentially expressed genes. Expression profiling by microarray was performed on the plantaris muscle subjected to 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, and 14 days of hypertrophy or regrowth following 2 wk of hind-limb suspension. We identified 97 differentially expressed genes (≥2-fold increase or ≥50% decrease compared with control muscle) that were conserved during the two forms of muscle growth. The vast majority (∼90%) of the differentially expressed genes was upregulated and occurred at a single time point (64 out of 86 genes), which most often was on the first day of the time course. Microarray analysis from the conserved upregulated genes showed a set of genes related to contractile apparatus and stress response at day 1, including three genes involved in mechanotransduction and four genes encoding heat shock proteins. Our analysis further identified three cell cycle-related genes at day and several genes associated with extracellular matrix (ECM) at both days 3 and 10. In conclusion, we have identified a core set of genes commonly upregulated in two forms of muscle growth that could play a role in the maintenance of sarcomere stability, ECM remodeling, cell proliferation, fast-to-slow fiber type transition, and the regulation of skeletal muscle growth. These findings suggest conserved regulatory mechanisms involved in the adaptation of skeletal muscle to increased mechanical loading. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

Identification of a conserved set of upregulated genes in mouse skeletal muscle hypertrophy and regrowth

PubMed Central

Chaillou, Thomas; Jackson, Janna R.; England, Jonathan H.; Kirby, Tyler J.; Richards-White, Jena; Esser, Karyn A.; Dupont-Versteegden, Esther E.

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to compare the gene expression profile of mouse skeletal muscle undergoing two forms of growth (hypertrophy and regrowth) with the goal of identifying a conserved set of differentially expressed genes. Expression profiling by microarray was performed on the plantaris muscle subjected to 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, and 14 days of hypertrophy or regrowth following 2 wk of hind-limb suspension. We identified 97 differentially expressed genes (≥2-fold increase or ≥50% decrease compared with control muscle) that were conserved during the two forms of muscle growth. The vast majority (∼90%) of the differentially expressed genes was upregulated and occurred at a single time point (64 out of 86 genes), which most often was on the first day of the time course. Microarray analysis from the conserved upregulated genes showed a set of genes related to contractile apparatus and stress response at day 1, including three genes involved in mechanotransduction and four genes encoding heat shock proteins. Our analysis further identified three cell cycle-related genes at day and several genes associated with extracellular matrix (ECM) at both days 3 and 10. In conclusion, we have identified a core set of genes commonly upregulated in two forms of muscle growth that could play a role in the maintenance of sarcomere stability, ECM remodeling, cell proliferation, fast-to-slow fiber type transition, and the regulation of skeletal muscle growth. These findings suggest conserved regulatory mechanisms involved in the adaptation of skeletal muscle to increased mechanical loading. PMID:25554798

Conservation in Mammals of Genes Associated with Aggression-Related Behavioral Phenotypes in Honey Bees

PubMed Central

Robinson, Gene E.; Jakobsson, Eric

2016-01-01

The emerging field of sociogenomics explores the relations between social behavior and genome structure and function. An important question is the extent to which associations between social behavior and gene expression are conserved among the Metazoa. Prior experimental work in an invertebrate model of social behavior, the honey bee, revealed distinct brain gene expression patterns in African and European honey bees, and within European honey bees with different behavioral phenotypes. The present work is a computational study of these previous findings in which we analyze, by orthology determination, the extent to which genes that are socially regulated in honey bees are conserved across the Metazoa. We found that the differentially expressed gene sets associated with alarm pheromone response, the difference between old and young bees, and the colony influence on soldier bees, are enriched in widely conserved genes, indicating that these differences have genomic bases shared with many other metazoans. By contrast, the sets of differentially expressed genes associated with the differences between African and European forager and guard bees are depleted in widely conserved genes, indicating that the genomic basis for this social behavior is relatively specific to honey bees. For the alarm pheromone response gene set, we found a particularly high degree of conservation with mammals, even though the alarm pheromone itself is bee-specific. Gene Ontology identification of human orthologs to the strongly conserved honey bee genes associated with the alarm pheromone response shows overrepresentation of protein metabolism, regulation of protein complex formation, and protein folding, perhaps associated with remodeling of critical neural circuits in response to alarm pheromone. We hypothesize that such remodeling may be an adaptation of social animals to process and respond appropriately to the complex patterns of conspecific communication essential for social organization. PMID:27359102

Conservation in Mammals of Genes Associated with Aggression-Related Behavioral Phenotypes in Honey Bees.

PubMed

Liu, Hui; Robinson, Gene E; Jakobsson, Eric

2016-06-01

The emerging field of sociogenomics explores the relations between social behavior and genome structure and function. An important question is the extent to which associations between social behavior and gene expression are conserved among the Metazoa. Prior experimental work in an invertebrate model of social behavior, the honey bee, revealed distinct brain gene expression patterns in African and European honey bees, and within European honey bees with different behavioral phenotypes. The present work is a computational study of these previous findings in which we analyze, by orthology determination, the extent to which genes that are socially regulated in honey bees are conserved across the Metazoa. We found that the differentially expressed gene sets associated with alarm pheromone response, the difference between old and young bees, and the colony influence on soldier bees, are enriched in widely conserved genes, indicating that these differences have genomic bases shared with many other metazoans. By contrast, the sets of differentially expressed genes associated with the differences between African and European forager and guard bees are depleted in widely conserved genes, indicating that the genomic basis for this social behavior is relatively specific to honey bees. For the alarm pheromone response gene set, we found a particularly high degree of conservation with mammals, even though the alarm pheromone itself is bee-specific. Gene Ontology identification of human orthologs to the strongly conserved honey bee genes associated with the alarm pheromone response shows overrepresentation of protein metabolism, regulation of protein complex formation, and protein folding, perhaps associated with remodeling of critical neural circuits in response to alarm pheromone. We hypothesize that such remodeling may be an adaptation of social animals to process and respond appropriately to the complex patterns of conspecific communication essential for social organization.

Conservation for Children [Levels 1-6 and an All-Levels Supplement].

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cupertino Union School District, CA.

Developed to promote conservation awareness in elementary students, each of the six grade-level-sequenced activity guides provides: (1) a list of conservation concepts; (2) a criterion-referenced test; (3) a class record sheet; (4) a content guide; and (5) 90 student worksheets (40 for language arts, 20 for mathematics, 20 for social studies and…

On a new class of completely integrable nonlinear wave equations. II. Multi-Hamiltonian structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nutku, Y.

1987-11-01

The multi-Hamiltonian structure of a class of nonlinear wave equations governing the propagation of finite amplitude waves is discussed. Infinitely many conservation laws had earlier been obtained for these equations. Starting from a (primary) Hamiltonian formulation of these equations the necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of bi-Hamiltonian structure are obtained and it is shown that the second Hamiltonian operator can be constructed solely through a knowledge of the first Hamiltonian function. The recursion operator which first appears at the level of bi-Hamiltonian structure gives rise to an infinite sequence of conserved Hamiltonians. It is found that in general there exist two different infinite sequences of conserved quantities for these equations. The recursion relation defining higher Hamiltonian structures enables one to obtain the necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of the (k+1)st Hamiltonian operator which depends on the kth Hamiltonian function. The infinite sequence of conserved Hamiltonians are common to all the higher Hamiltonian structures. The equations of gas dynamics are discussed as an illustration of this formalism and it is shown that in general they admit tri-Hamiltonian structure with two distinct infinite sets of conserved quantities. The isothermal case of γ=1 is an exceptional one that requires separate treatment. This corresponds to a specialization of the equations governing the expansion of plasma into vacuum which will be shown to be equivalent to Poisson's equation in nonlinear acoustics.

Rapid functional diversification in the structurally conserved ELAV family of neuronal RNA binding proteins

PubMed Central

Samson, Marie-Laure

2008-01-01

Background The Drosophila gene embryonic lethal abnormal visual system (elav) is the prototype of a gene family present in all metazoans. Its members encode structurally conserved neuronal proteins with three RNA Recognition Motifs (RRM) but they paradoxically act at diverse levels of post-transcriptional regulation. In an attempt to understand the history of this family, we searched for orthologs in eleven completely sequenced genomes, including those of humans, D. melanogaster and C. elegans, for which cDNAs are available. Results We analyzed 23 orthologs/paralogs of elav, and found evidence of gain/loss of gene copy number. For one set of genes, including elav itself, the coding sequences are free of introns and their products most resemble ELAV. The remaining genes show remarkable conservation of their exon organization, and their products most resemble FNE and RBP9, proteins encoded by the two elav paralogs of Drosophila. Remarkably, three of the conserved exon junctions are both close to structural elements, involved respectively in protein-RNA interactions and in the regulation of sub-cellular localization, and in the vicinity of diverse sequence variations. Conclusion The data indicate that the essential elav gene of Drosophila is newly emerged, restricted to dipterans and of retrotransposed origin. We propose that the conserved exon junctions constitute potential sites for sequence/function modifications, and that RRM binding proteins, whose function relies upon plastic RNA-protein interactions, may have played an important role in brain evolution. PMID:18715504

Dynamic landscape and regulation of RNA editing in mammals

PubMed Central

Tan, Meng How; Li, Qin; Shanmugam, Raghuvaran; Piskol, Robert; Kohler, Jennefer; Young, Amy N.; Liu, Kaiwen Ivy; Zhang, Rui; Ramaswami, Gokul; Ariyoshi, Kentaro; Gupte, Ankita; Keegan, Liam P.; George, Cyril X.; Ramu, Avinash; Huang, Ni; Pollina, Elizabeth A.; Leeman, Dena S.; Rustighi, Alessandra; Sharon Goh, Y. P.; Chawla, Ajay; Del Sal, Giannino; Peltz, Gary; Brunet, Anne; Conrad, Donald F.; Samuel, Charles E.; O’Connell, Mary A.; Walkley, Carl R.; Nishikura, Kazuko; Li, Jin Billy

2017-01-01

Adenosine-to-inosine (A-to-I) RNA editing is a conserved post-transcriptional mechanism mediated by ADAR enzymes that diversifies the transcriptome by altering selected nucleotides in RNA molecules1. Although many editing sites have recently been discovered2–7, the extent to which most sites are edited and how the editing is regulated in different biological contexts are not fully understood8–10. Here we report dynamic spatiotemporal patterns and new regulators of RNA editing, discovered through an extensive profiling of A-to-I RNA editing in 8,551 human samples (representing 53 body sites from 552 individuals) from the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project and in hundreds of other primate and mouse samples. We show that editing levels in non-repetitive coding regions vary more between tissues than editing levels in repetitive regions. Globally, ADAR1 is the primary editor of repetitive sites and ADAR2 is the primary editor of non-repetitive coding sites, whereas the catalytically inactive ADAR3 predominantly acts as an inhibitor of editing. Cross-species analysis of RNA editing in several tissues revealed that species, rather than tissue type, is the primary determinant of editing levels, suggesting stronger cis-directed regulation of RNA editing for most sites, although the small set of conserved coding sites is under stronger trans-regulation. In addition, we curated an extensive set of ADAR1 and ADAR2 targets and showed that many editing sites display distinct tissue-specific regulation by the ADAR enzymes in vivo. Further analysis of the GTEx data revealed several potential regulators of editing, such as AIMP2, which reduces editing in muscles by enhancing the degradation of the ADAR proteins. Collectively, our work provides insights into the complex cis- and trans-regulation of A-to-I editing. PMID:29022589

Taming Data to Make Decisions: Using a Spatial Fuzzy Logic Decision Support Framework to Inform Conservation and Land Use Planning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sheehan, T.; Baker, B.; Degagne, R. S.

2015-12-01

With the abundance of data sources, analytical methods, and computer models, land managers are faced with the overwhelming task of making sense of a profusion of data of wildly different types. Luckily, fuzzy logic provides a method to work with different types of data using language-based propositions such as "the landscape is undisturbed," and a simple set of logic constructs. Just as many surveys allow different levels of agreement with a proposition, fuzzy logic allows values reflecting different levels of truth for a proposition. Truth levels fall within a continuum ranging from Fully True to Fully False. Hence a fuzzy logic model produces continuous results. The Environmental Evaluation Modeling System (EEMS) is a platform-independent, tree-based, fuzzy logic modeling framework. An EEMS model provides a transparent definition of an evaluation model and is commonly developed as a collaborative effort among managers, scientists, and GIS experts. Managers specify a set of evaluative propositions used to characterize the landscape. Scientists, working with managers, formulate functions that convert raw data values into truth values for the propositions and produce a logic tree to combine results into a single metric used to guide decisions. Managers, scientists, and GIS experts then work together to implement and iteratively tune the logic model and produce final results. We present examples of two successful EEMS projects that provided managers with map-based results suitable for guiding decisions: sensitivity and climate change exposure in Utah and the Colorado Plateau modeled for the Bureau of Land Management; and terrestrial ecological intactness in the Mojave and Sonoran region of southern California modeled for the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan.

Dynamic landscape and regulation of RNA editing in mammals.

PubMed

Tan, Meng How; Li, Qin; Shanmugam, Raghuvaran; Piskol, Robert; Kohler, Jennefer; Young, Amy N; Liu, Kaiwen Ivy; Zhang, Rui; Ramaswami, Gokul; Ariyoshi, Kentaro; Gupte, Ankita; Keegan, Liam P; George, Cyril X; Ramu, Avinash; Huang, Ni; Pollina, Elizabeth A; Leeman, Dena S; Rustighi, Alessandra; Goh, Y P Sharon; Chawla, Ajay; Del Sal, Giannino; Peltz, Gary; Brunet, Anne; Conrad, Donald F; Samuel, Charles E; O'Connell, Mary A; Walkley, Carl R; Nishikura, Kazuko; Li, Jin Billy

2017-10-11

Adenosine-to-inosine (A-to-I) RNA editing is a conserved post-transcriptional mechanism mediated by ADAR enzymes that diversifies the transcriptome by altering selected nucleotides in RNA molecules. Although many editing sites have recently been discovered, the extent to which most sites are edited and how the editing is regulated in different biological contexts are not fully understood. Here we report dynamic spatiotemporal patterns and new regulators of RNA editing, discovered through an extensive profiling of A-to-I RNA editing in 8,551 human samples (representing 53 body sites from 552 individuals) from the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project and in hundreds of other primate and mouse samples. We show that editing levels in non-repetitive coding regions vary more between tissues than editing levels in repetitive regions. Globally, ADAR1 is the primary editor of repetitive sites and ADAR2 is the primary editor of non-repetitive coding sites, whereas the catalytically inactive ADAR3 predominantly acts as an inhibitor of editing. Cross-species analysis of RNA editing in several tissues revealed that species, rather than tissue type, is the primary determinant of editing levels, suggesting stronger cis-directed regulation of RNA editing for most sites, although the small set of conserved coding sites is under stronger trans-regulation. In addition, we curated an extensive set of ADAR1 and ADAR2 targets and showed that many editing sites display distinct tissue-specific regulation by the ADAR enzymes in vivo. Further analysis of the GTEx data revealed several potential regulators of editing, such as AIMP2, which reduces editing in muscles by enhancing the degradation of the ADAR proteins. Collectively, our work provides insights into the complex cis- and trans-regulation of A-to-I editing.

Classification and conservation priority of five Deccani sheep ecotypes of Maharashtra, India

PubMed Central

Arora, Reena; Jain, Anand

2017-01-01

Characterization of Indian livestock breeds has mostly been limited to single breed/population focused on either physical description of traditionally recognized breeds/populations or to their genetic description. Usually, morphological and genetic characterization has taken place in isolation. A parallel morphological characterization of genetically identified breeds or genetic characterization of morphologically described breeds is mostly missing, and their conservation priorities have largely been based on solely considering degree of endangerment. This study uses parallel approach based on morphometric and genetic differentiation for classification of five sheep ecotypes of Maharashtra state, and sets their conservation priority using threat parameters, current utilities/merits and contribution to genetic diversity. A total of 1101 animals were described for 7 body measurements for morphometric characterization. From this sample set, 456 animals were genotyped for 25 microsatellite markers for genetic characterization. Conservation priorities were assessed combining genetic and non-genetic factors. All studied traits varied significantly among ecotypes (p<0.05). All morphometric traits exhibited substantial sexual dimorphism except ear length. Males were 42% heavier than females. Madgyal sheep were the largest amongst the five ecotypes. In the stepwise discriminant analysis, all measured traits were significant and were found to have potential discriminatory power. Tail length was the most discriminatory trait. The Mahalanobis distance of the morphological traits between Kolhapuri and Madgyal was maximum (12.07) while the least differentiation was observed between Madgyal and Solapuri (1.50). Discriminant analysis showed that 68.12% sheep were classified into their source population. The Sangamneri sheep showed least assignment error (22%) whilst Solapuri exhibited maximum error level (41%). A total of 407 alleles were observed, with an average of 16.28 alleles per locus. Sufficient levels of genetic diversity were observed in all the ecotypes with observed heterozygosity values exceeding 0.47 and gene diversity values exceeding 0.76. About 6% of the total genetic variation was explained by population differences (FST = 0.059). Pairwise FST values indicated least differentiation between Solapuri and Madgyal (0.025). In terms of genetic distances, Kolhapuri and Lonand were most closely related (Ds = 0.177). The most probable structure clustering of the five studied populations was at K = 5. The study showed a fair congruence between the dendrogram constructed on the basis of Mahalanobis distances and Nei’s as well as Reynolds genetic distances. The findings gave highest conservation priority to Lonand and least to Solapuri ecotype. PMID:28910329

Reserve network planning for fishes in the middle and lower Yangtze River basin by systematic conservation approaches.

PubMed

Huang, Xinyi; Li, Fan; Chen, Jiakuan

2016-03-01

Although China has established more than 600 wetland nature reserves, conservation gaps still exist for many species, especially for freshwater fishes. Underlying this problem is the fact that top-level planning is missing in the construction of nature reserves. To promote the development of nature reserves for fishes, this study took the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River basin (MLYRB) as an example to carry out top-level reserve network planning for fishes using approaches of systematic conservation planning. Typical fish species living in freshwater habitats were defined and considered in the planning. Based on sample data collected from large quantities of literatures, continuous distribution patterns of 142 fishes were obtained with species distribution modeling and subsequent processing, and the distributions of another eleven species were artificially designated. With the distribution pattern of species, Marxan was used to carry out conservation planning. To obtain ideal solutions with representativeness, persistence, and efficiency, parameters were set with careful consideration regarding existing wetland reserves, human disturbances, hydrological connectivity, and representation targets of species. Marxan produced the selection frequency of planning units (PUs) and a best solution. Selection frequency indicates the relative protection importance of a PU. The best solution is a representative of ideal fish reserve networks. Both of the PUs with high selection frequency and those in the best solution have low proportions included in existing wetland nature reserves, suggesting that there are significant conservation gaps for fish species in MLYRB. The best solution could serve as a reference for establishing a fish reserve network in the MLYRB. There is great flexibility for replacing selected PUs in the solution, and such flexibility facilitates the implementation of the solution in reality in case of unexpected obstacles. Further, we suggested adopting a freshwater management framework in the implementation of such solution.

National energy conservation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1975-01-01

A set of energy conservation actions that cut across all sectors of the economy were analyzed so that all actions under consideration be analyzed systematically and as a whole. The actions considered were as follows: (1) roll back the price of newly discovered oil, (2) freeze gasoline production for 3 years at 1972 levels, (3) mandate automobile mileage improvements, (4) require industry to improve energy efficiency, (5) require manufacture of household appliances with greater efficiency, (6) force conversion of many power plants from gas and oil to coal. The results showed that considerable gas and oil would be saved by forcing switches to coal. However, the large scale switch to coal was shown to require greatly increased outputs from many other industries that in turn require more energy. It was estimated that nearly 2.5 quads of additional coal were needed to produce these additional requirements. Also, the indirect requirements would create more jobs.

Laser Techniques in Conservation of Artworks:. Problems and Breakthroughs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salimbeni, Renzo; Siano, Salvatore

2010-04-01

After more than thirty years since the first experiment in Venice, only in the last decade laser techniques have been widely recognised as one of the most important innovation introduced in the conservation of artworks for diagnostics, restoration and monitoring aims. Especially the use of laser ablation for the delicate phase of cleaning has been debated for many years, because of the problems encountered in finding an appropriate setting of the laser parameters. Many experimentations carried out on stone, metals and pigments put in evidence unacceptable side effects such as discoloration and yellowing after the treatment, or scarce cleaning productivity in respect of other techniques. Many research projects organised at European level have contributed to find breakthroughs in laser techniques that could avoid such problems. The choices of specific laser parameters better suited for cleaning of stone, metals and pigments are described. A series of validation case studies is reported.

The OPGT/MJS plasma wave science team

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scarf, F. L.

1972-01-01

Some properties of a model magnetosphere for Saturn were studied in order to determine the bounds that can be set on surface field strength and trapped particle population. The primary observational constraint was that nonthermal radiation similar to the Jovian radio emissions must be undetectable from Earth. It is argued that for a Saturn surface field of approximately one gauss, particles that are energized as they diffuse in from the magnetopause with conservation of magnetic moment will produce synchrotron radiation levels that are undetectable at a range of 9.5 AU. The plasma instabilities that heat the oncoming wind particles at the bow shock and others that can limit the stably-trapped flux levels are also discussed.

On the Directional Dependence and Null Space Freedom in Uncertainty Bound Identification

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lim, K. B.; Giesy, D. P.

1997-01-01

In previous work, the determination of uncertainty models via minimum norm model validation is based on a single set of input and output measurement data. Since uncertainty bounds at each frequency is directionally dependent for multivariable systems, this will lead to optimistic uncertainty levels. In addition, the design freedom in the uncertainty model has not been utilized to further reduce uncertainty levels. The above issues are addressed by formulating a min- max problem. An analytical solution to the min-max problem is given to within a generalized eigenvalue problem, thus avoiding a direct numerical approach. This result will lead to less conservative and more realistic uncertainty models for use in robust control.

Residential energy consumption and conservation programs: A systematic approach to identify inefficient households, provide meaningful feedback, and prioritize homes for conservation intervention

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Macsleyne, Amelia Chadbourne Carus

There are three main objectives for residential energy conservation policies: to reduce the use of fossil fuels, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce the energy costs seen by the consumer (U.S. Department of Energy: Strategic Objectives, 2006). A prominent difficulty currently facing conservation policy makers and program managers is how to identify and communicate with households that would be good candidates for conservation intervention, in such a way that affects a change in consumption patterns and is cost-effective. This research addresses this issue by separating the problem into three components: how to identify houses that are significantly more inefficient than comparable households; how to find the maximum financially-feasible investment in energy efficiency for a household in order to reduce annual energy costs and/or improve indoor comfort; and how to prioritize low-income households for a subsidized weatherization program. Each component of the problem is presented as a paper prepared for publication. Household consumption related to physical house efficiency, thermostat settings, and daily appliance usage is studied in the first and second paper by analyzing natural gas utility meter readings associated with over 10,000 households from 2001-2006. A rich description of a house's architectural characteristics and household demographics is attained by integrating publicly available databases based on the house address. This combination of information allows for the largest number of individual households studied at this level of detail to date. The third paper uses conservation program data from two natural gas utilities that administer and sponsor the program; over 1,000 weatherized households are included in this sample. This research focuses on natural gas-related household conservation. However, the same principles and methods could be applied for electricity-related conservation programs. We find positive policy implications from each of these three papers.

The impact of conservative discourses in family policies, population politics, and gender rights in Poland and Turkey.

PubMed

Korkut, Umut; Eslen-Ziya, Hande

2011-01-01

This article uses childcare as a case study to test the impact of ideas that embody a traditional understanding of gender relations in relation to childcare. Conservative ideas regard increasing female labor market participation as a cause of decreasing fertility on the functioning of a set of general policies to increase fertility rates. It looks into the Polish and Turkish contexts for empirical evidence. The Polish context shows a highly institutionalized system of family policies in contrast to almost unessential institutions in Turkey. Formally, the labor market participation of women is much lower in Turkey than in Poland. Yet, given the size of the informal market in Turkey, women's labor participation is obviously higher than what appears in the statistics. Bearing in mind this divergence, the article suggests Poland and Turkey as two typologies for studying population politics in contexts where socially conservative ideas regarding gender remain paramount. We qualify ideas as conservative if they enforce a traditional understanding of gender relations in care-giving and underline women's role in the labor market as an element of declining fertility. In order to delineate ideational impact, this article looks into how ideas (a) supplant and (b) substitute formal institutions. Therefore, we argue that there are two mechanisms pertaining to the dominance of conservative conventions: conservative ideas may either supplant the institutional impact on family policies, or substitute them thanks to a superior reasoning which societies assign to them. Furthermore, conservative conventions prevail alongside women's customary unpaid work as care-givers regardless of the level of their formal workforce participation. We propose as our major findings for the literature of population politics that ideas, as ubiquitous belief systems, are more powerful than institutions since they provide what is perceived as legitimate, acceptable, and good for the societies under study. In the end, irrespective of the presence of institutions, socially conservative ideas prevail.

N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide as a useful predictor of early surgery in neonates with congenital heart diseases: a prospective observational study.

PubMed

Makimura, Mika; Koga, Hiroshi

2014-01-01

Pediatric studies have found a correlation between the clinical heart failure score and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels. However, the clinical usefulness of this marker remains unclear in neonates. At hospitals without pediatric cardiologists, neonatologists or general pediatricians must judge whether surgery is indicated and transfer patients to a specialized hospital in a timely fashion as required. Thus, we tested the hypothesis that increased NT-proBNP levels predict short-term outcomes in neonates with congenital heart diseases (CHDs) and are thus a useful tool for evaluating clinical status and guiding treatment. Subjects were term or near-term newborns (≥36 weeks' gestation) with CHDs confined to left-to-right shunt lesions. Clinical parameters and NT-proBNP levels were measured on the first 7, 14, 21, and 28 days of life (DOL). We divided patients into a surgical (n = 7) and a conservative-treatment group (n = 21), and then compared clinical variables and outcomes between the groups. In the surgical group, NT-proBNP levels had a tendency to increase during the first 14 postnatal days and were significantly greater than in the conservative-treatment group on 7 DOL [median (range), 13,983 pg/mL (4,732-26,524) vs. 1,954 pg/mL (671-10,881); p = 0.0028] and on 14 DOL [29,274 pg/mL (14,006-33,740) vs. 2,050 pg/mL (1,304-9,250); p = 0.0055]. In contrast, NT-proBNP levels tended to decrease sequentially in the conservative-treatment group. The values of additional markers, such as mean NT-proBNP level on 7 and 14 DOLs (M7-14) and NT-proBNP level on 14 DOL minus that on 7 DOL (Δ7-14), were both significantly greater in the surgical group than in the conservative-treatment group. To examine the usability of M7-14 and Δ7-14 when the difference and mean cut-off levels were set at 10,000 and 3,000 pg/mL, respectively, the sensitivity and specificity were both 100 %. In neonates who had CHDs with left-to-right shunt, analysis of the association between clinical variables and short-term outcomes showed that NT-proBNP, especially M7-14 and Δ7-14, is a useful predictor of early surgery.

Ground-water levels in the alluvial aquifer in eastern Arkansas, 1988

USGS Publications Warehouse

Westerfield, P.W.; Baxter, C.R.

1990-01-01

This report, prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission, the U.S. Soil Conservation Service, and local Conservation Districts, contains groundwater level measurements of 509 wells that tap the alluvial aquifer in the Quaternary deposits of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain. The measurements were made by district Soil Conservation Service personnel during 1988. The shallowest prepumping season water levels occurred in Ashley, Clay, Greene, Mississippi, Phillips, and Randolph Counties where water levels averaged less than 20 ft below the land surface. The deepest water levels occurred in Arkansas, Lonoke, Poinsett, and Prairie Counties where water levels of more than 100 ft below land surface were measured. Water levels in the postpumping season averaged about 4.1 ft lower than during the prepumping season. (USGS)

Multicenter prospective study of magnetic resonance imaging prior to breast-conserving surgery for breast cancer.

PubMed

Liu, Qian; Liu, Yinhua; Xu, Ling; Duan, Xuening; Li, Ting; Qin, Naishan; Kang, Hua; Jiang, Hongchuan; Yang, Deqi; Qu, Xiang; Jiang, Zefei; Yu, Chengze

2014-01-01

This multicenter prospective study aimed to assess the utility of dynamic enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) prior to breast-conserving surgery for breast cancer. The research subjects were drawn from patients with primary early resectable breast cancer treated in the breast disease centers of six three-level hospitals in Beijing from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2012. The participants were allocated to a breast-conserving surgery group (breast-conserving group) or a total mastectomy group (total mastectomy group). Enhanced MRI was used to measure breast volume, longest diameter of tumor and tumor volume. The correlations between these measurements and those derived from histopathologic findings were assessed. The relationships between the success rate of breast-conserving surgery and MRI- and pathology-based measurement results were statistically analyzed in the breast-conserving group. The study included 461 cases in the total mastectomy group and 195 in the breast-conserving group. Allocation to these groups was based on clinical indications and patient preferences. The cut-off for concurrence between MRI- and pathology-based measurements of the longest diameter of tumor was set at 0.3 cm. In the total mastectomy group, the confidence interval for 95% concurrence of these measurements was 35.41%-44.63%. Correlation coefficients for MRI and histopathology-based measurements of breast volume, tumor volume and tumor volume/breast volume ratio were r = 0.861, 0.569, and 0.600, respectively (all P < 0.001). In the breast-conserving group, with 0.30 cm taken as the cut-off for concurrence, the 95% confidence interval for MRI and pathology-based measurements of the longest diameter of tumor was 29.98%-44.01%. The subjective and objective success rates for breast-conserving surgery were 100% and 88.54%, respectively. There were significant correlations between dynamic enhanced MRI- and histopathology-based measurements of the longest diameter of breast lesions, breast and tumor volumes, and breast volume/tumor volume ratios. Preoperative MRI examination improves the success rate of breast-conserving surgery.

Species distribution models for a migratory bird based on citizen science and satellite tracking data

USGS Publications Warehouse

Coxen, Christopher L.; Frey, Jennifer K.; Carleton, Scott A.; Collins, Daniel P.

2017-01-01

Species distribution models can provide critical baseline distribution information for the conservation of poorly understood species. Here, we compared the performance of band-tailed pigeon (Patagioenas fasciata) species distribution models created using Maxent and derived from two separate presence-only occurrence data sources in New Mexico: 1) satellite tracked birds and 2) observations reported in eBird basic data set. Both models had good accuracy (test AUC > 0.8 and True Skill Statistic > 0.4), and high overlap between suitability scores (I statistic 0.786) and suitable habitat patches (relative rank 0.639). Our results suggest that, at the state-wide level, eBird occurrence data can effectively model similar species distributions as satellite tracking data. Climate change models for the band-tailed pigeon predict a 35% loss in area of suitable climate by 2070 if CO2 emissions drop to 1990 levels by 2100, and a 45% loss by 2070 if we continue current CO2 emission levels through the end of the century. These numbers may be conservative given the predicted increase in drought, wildfire, and forest pest impacts to the coniferous forests the species inhabits in New Mexico. The northern portion of the species’ range in New Mexico is predicted to be the most viable through time.

Amoco seeking per-unit energy cut amidst expansion

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Crawford, E.

1977-05-09

Amoco has set an energy conservation goal of 3% annual cut in energy use per pound of product at its Chocolate Bayou plant during a period of major production expansion. Outside consultants will test boiler efficiencies, conduct infrared surveys of insulation, and study internal processes. Incentives for energy saving include the economics of rising energy costs and the inclusion of energy conservation in plant performance reviews. A voluntary program was initiated three years ago, but increased administrative pressure was applied in the last year with the expansion of the energy conservation committee to include the active participation of the plantmore » manager. Both direct fuel and energy loss consumption are included in the effort. No budget is set for conservation investment, but estimates are set at $5 to $10 million through 1979. Some of the investment will be in the form of salary increases for those effecting energy savings. Investments to date have included furnace improvements, replacement of leaky linings, a plant-wide steam balance program, and recovery of hydrocarbons from wastes. Energy savings of 3% will have a significant impact with next year's electric bills projected at $6 million and gas bills at $42 million. (DCK)« less

Nine-year prostate cancer survival differences between aggressive versus conservative therapy in men with advanced and metastatic prostate cancer.

PubMed

Dall'Era, Marc A; Lo, Mary J; Chen, Jaclyn; Cress, Rosemary; Hamilton, Ann S

2018-05-01

To the authors' knowledge, the survival benefit of local therapy in the setting of advanced prostate cancer remains unknown. The authors investigated whether prostate-directed treatment with either surgery or radiotherapy versus conservative treatment in the setting of locally advanced or metastatic disease was associated with improved survival within a cohort of men from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Breast and Prostate Cancer Data Quality and Patterns of Care Study (CDC POC-BP). Men diagnosed with locally advanced (cT3-T4 or N+ and M0) or metastatic prostate cancer were identified. The authors compared survival by treatment type, categorized as conservative (androgen deprivation therapy only) versus aggressive (radical prostatectomy or any type of radiotherapy). Nine-year overall survival and prostate cancer-specific survival were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to determine factors independently associated with 9-year prostate cancer-specific survival. For men with advanced, nonmetastatic prostate cancer, conservative treatment alone was associated with a 4 times higher likelihood of prostate cancer mortality compared with men treated with surgery (hazard ratio, 4.18; 95% confidence interval, 1.44-12.14). In contrast, no difference was found between conservative versus aggressive treatment after adjusting for covariates for men with metastatic disease. The 9-year prostate cancer-specific survival rate was 27% for those receiving aggressive treatment versus 24% for men undergoing conservative treatment. The authors did not observe a survival advantage with local therapy in addition to standard androgen deprivation therapy for men with metastatic prostate cancer. However, the results of the current study did affirm advantages in the setting of locally advanced disease. Aggressive local therapy in the setting of metastatic disease needs to be studied carefully before clinical adoption. Cancer 2018;124:1921-8. © 2018 American Cancer Society. © 2018 American Cancer Society.

Simulated long-term effects of varying tree retention on wood production, dead wood and carbon stock changes.

PubMed

Santaniello, Francesca; Djupström, Line B; Ranius, Thomas; Weslien, Jan; Rudolphi, Jörgen; Sonesson, Johan

2017-10-01

Boreal forests are an important source of timber and pulp wood, but provide also other products and services. Utilizing a simulation program and field data from a tree retention experiment in a Scots pine forest in central Sweden, we simulated the consequences during the following 100 years of various levels of retention on production of merchantable wood, dead wood input (as a proxy for biodiversity), and carbon stock changes. At the stand level, wood production decreased with increased retention levels, while dead wood input and carbon stock increased. We also compared 12 scenarios representing a land sharing/land sparing gradient. In each scenario, a constant volume of wood was harvested with a specific level of retention in a 100-ha landscape. The area not needed to reach the defined volume was set-aside during a 100-year rotation period, leading to decreasing area of set-asides with increasing level of retention across the 12 scenarios. Dead wood input was positively affected by the level of tree retention whereas the average carbon stock decreased slightly with increasing level of tree retention. The scenarios will probably vary in how they favor species preferring different substrates. Therefore, we conclude that a larger variation of landscape-level conservation strategies, also including active creation of dead wood, may be an attractive complement to the existing management. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multi-level discrepancies with sharing data on protected areas: what we have and what we need for the global village.

PubMed

Bertzky, Monika; Stoll-Kleemann, Susanne

2009-01-01

Protected areas present a global heritage. Assessing conservation achievements in protected areas is of crucial importance with respect to the on-time delivery of international biodiversity conservation targets. However, monitoring data from publicly accessible databases for comparative studies of conservation achievements in the protected areas of the world are very scarce, if not non-existent. At first glance this is surprising because, with regards to protected areas, at least according to well established protected area management guidelines and widely accepted public mandates, a great deal of monitoring work and data gathering is to be conducted. This would imply that data on changes of biodiversity in protected areas could be expected to exist, and the constant progress in information technologies and Web tools engenders hope that some of it might even be available online for the global public. This review article presents the results of an extensive online search and review of existing monitoring data from freely accessible online databases for its use in an assessment of conservation achievements in a larger sample of protected areas. Results show two contrary sides to the status quo of accessible data from the World Wide Web for conservation science: data overkill and data scarcity with poor metadata provision. While ever more research is, in fact, based on open-access online data, such as extrapolations of species ranges used in conservation management and planning, it remains almost impossible to obtain a basic set of information for an assessment of conservation achievements within a larger number of protected areas. This awareness has triggered a detailed discussion about the discrepancies in sharing data at the level of protected areas; mismatching relationships between expected activities in protected areas and the capacity for delivering these requirements are certainly among the main challenges. In addition, the fear of data misuse potentially resulting in harm for nature, careers, and competencies still seems to be a critical barrier strictly controlling the willingness to share data. Various initiatives aimed at tackling technical and cultural obstacles are introduced and discussed to reach the goal of a modern resource management based on adaptive management using digital opportunities of the new millennium for a sustainable global village.

Future hotspots of terrestrial mammal loss

PubMed Central

Visconti, Piero; Pressey, Robert L.; Giorgini, Daniele; Maiorano, Luigi; Bakkenes, Michel; Boitani, Luigi; Alkemade, Rob; Falcucci, Alessandra; Chiozza, Federica; Rondinini, Carlo

2011-01-01

Current levels of endangerment and historical trends of species and habitats are the main criteria used to direct conservation efforts globally. Estimates of future declines, which might indicate different priorities than past declines, have been limited by the lack of appropriate data and models. Given that much of conservation is about anticipating and responding to future threats, our inability to look forward at a global scale has been a major constraint on effective action. Here, we assess the geography and extent of projected future changes in suitable habitat for terrestrial mammals within their present ranges. We used a global earth-system model, IMAGE, coupled with fine-scale habitat suitability models and parametrized according to four global scenarios of human development. We identified the most affected countries by 2050 for each scenario, assuming that no additional conservation actions other than those described in the scenarios take place. We found that, with some exceptions, most of the countries with the largest predicted losses of suitable habitat for mammals are in Africa and the Americas. African and North American countries were also predicted to host the most species with large proportional global declines. Most of the countries we identified as future hotspots of terrestrial mammal loss have little or no overlap with the present global conservation priorities, thus confirming the need for forward-looking analyses in conservation priority setting. The expected growth in human populations and consumption in hotspots of future mammal loss mean that local conservation actions such as protected areas might not be sufficient to mitigate losses. Other policies, directed towards the root causes of biodiversity loss, are required, both in Africa and other parts of the world. PMID:21844048

Relative contributions of set-asides and tree retention to the long-term availability of key forest biodiversity structures at the landscape scale.

PubMed

Roberge, Jean-Michel; Lämås, Tomas; Lundmark, Tomas; Ranius, Thomas; Felton, Adam; Nordin, Annika

2015-05-01

Over previous decades new environmental measures have been implemented in forestry. In Fennoscandia, forest management practices were modified to set aside conservation areas and to retain trees at final felling. In this study we simulated the long-term effects of set-aside establishment and tree retention practices on the future availability of large trees and dead wood, two forest structures of documented importance to biodiversity conservation. Using a forest decision support system (Heureka), we projected the amounts of these structures over 200 years in two managed north Swedish landscapes, under management scenarios with and without set-asides and tree retention. In line with common best practice, we simulated set-asides covering 5% of the productive area with priority to older stands, as well as ∼5% green-tree retention (solitary trees and forest patches) including high-stump creation at final felling. We found that only tree retention contributed to substantial increases in the future density of large (DBH ≥35 cm) deciduous trees, while both measures made significant contributions to the availability of large conifers. It took more than half a century to observe stronger increases in the densities of large deciduous trees as an effect of tree retention. The mean landscape-scale volumes of hard dead wood fluctuated widely, but the conservation measures yielded values which were, on average over the entire simulation period, about 2.5 times as high as for scenarios without these measures. While the density of large conifers increased with time in the landscape initially dominated by younger forest, best practice conservation measures did not avert a long-term decrease in large conifer density in the landscape initially comprised of more old forest. Our results highlight the needs to adopt a long temporal perspective and to consider initial landscape conditions when evaluating the large-scale effects of conservation measures on forest biodiversity. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of break crops, and of wheat volunteers growing in break crops or in set-aside or conservation covers, all following crops of winter wheat, on the development of take-all (Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici) in succeeding crops of winter wheat

PubMed Central

Jenkyn, JF; Gutteridge, RJ; White, RP

2014-01-01

Experiments on the Rothamsted and Woburn Experimental Farms studied the effects on take-all of different break crops and of set-aside/conservation covers that interrupted sequences of winter wheat. There was no evidence for different effects on take-all of the break crops per se but the presence of volunteers, in crops of oilseed rape, increased the amounts of take-all in the following wheat. Severity of take-all was closely related to the numbers of volunteers in the preceding break crops and covers, and was affected by the date of their destruction. Early destruction of set-aside/conservation covers was usually effective in preventing damaging take-all in the following wheat except, sometimes, when populations of volunteers were very large. The experiments were not designed to test the effects of sowing dates but different amounts of take-all in the first wheats after breaks or covers apparently affected the severity of take-all in the following (second) wheats only where the latter were relatively late sown. In earlier-sown second wheats, take-all was consistently severe and unrelated to the severity of the disease in the preceding (first) wheats. Results from two very simple experiments suggested that substituting set-aside/conservation covers for winter wheat, for 1 year only, did not seriously interfere with the development of take-all disease or with the development or maintenance of take-all decline (TAD). With further research, it might be possible for growers wishing to exploit TAD to incorporate set-aside/conservation covers into their cropping strategies, and especially to avoid the worst effects of the disease on grain yield during the early stages of epidemics. PMID:25653455

Comparison of Fully-Compressible Equation Sets for Atmospheric Dynamics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ahmad, Nashat N.

2016-01-01

Traditionally, the equation for the conservation of energy used in atmospheric models is based on potential temperature and is used in place of the total energy conservation. This paper compares the application of the two equations sets for both the Euler and the Navier-Stokes solutions using several benchmark test cases. A high-resolution wave-propagation method which accurately takes into account the source term due to gravity is used for computing the non-hydrostatic atmospheric flows. It is demonstrated that there is little to no difference between the results obtained using the two different equation sets for Euler as well as Navier-Stokes solutions.

What Data to Use for Forest Conservation Planning? A Comparison of Coarse Open and Detailed Proprietary Forest Inventory Data in Finland

PubMed Central

Lehtomäki, Joona; Tuominen, Sakari; Toivonen, Tuuli; Leinonen, Antti

2015-01-01

The boreal region is facing intensifying resource extraction pressure, but the lack of comprehensive biodiversity data makes operative forest conservation planning difficult. Many countries have implemented forest inventory schemes and are making extensive and up-to-date forest databases increasingly available. Some of the more detailed inventory databases, however, remain proprietary and unavailable for conservation planning. Here, we investigate how well different open and proprietary forest inventory data sets suit the purpose of conservation prioritization in Finland. We also explore how much priorities are affected by using the less accurate but open data. First, we construct a set of indices for forest conservation value based on quantitative information commonly found in forest inventories. These include the maturity of the trees, tree species composition, and site fertility. Secondly, using these data and accounting for connectivity between forest types, we investigate the patterns in conservation priority. For prioritization, we use Zonation, a method and software for spatial conservation prioritization. We then validate the prioritizations by comparing them to known areas of high conservation value. We show that the overall priority patterns are relatively consistent across different data sources and analysis options. However, the coarse data cannot be used to accurately identify the high-priority areas as it misses much of the fine-scale variation in forest structures. We conclude that, while inventory data collected for forestry purposes may be useful for forest conservation purposes, it needs to be detailed enough to be able to account for more fine-scaled features of high conservation value. These results underline the importance of making detailed inventory data publicly available. Finally, we discuss how the prioritization methodology we used could be integrated into operative forest management, especially in countries in the boreal zone. PMID:26317227

What Data to Use for Forest Conservation Planning? A Comparison of Coarse Open and Detailed Proprietary Forest Inventory Data in Finland.

PubMed

Lehtomäki, Joona; Tuominen, Sakari; Toivonen, Tuuli; Leinonen, Antti

2015-01-01

The boreal region is facing intensifying resource extraction pressure, but the lack of comprehensive biodiversity data makes operative forest conservation planning difficult. Many countries have implemented forest inventory schemes and are making extensive and up-to-date forest databases increasingly available. Some of the more detailed inventory databases, however, remain proprietary and unavailable for conservation planning. Here, we investigate how well different open and proprietary forest inventory data sets suit the purpose of conservation prioritization in Finland. We also explore how much priorities are affected by using the less accurate but open data. First, we construct a set of indices for forest conservation value based on quantitative information commonly found in forest inventories. These include the maturity of the trees, tree species composition, and site fertility. Secondly, using these data and accounting for connectivity between forest types, we investigate the patterns in conservation priority. For prioritization, we use Zonation, a method and software for spatial conservation prioritization. We then validate the prioritizations by comparing them to known areas of high conservation value. We show that the overall priority patterns are relatively consistent across different data sources and analysis options. However, the coarse data cannot be used to accurately identify the high-priority areas as it misses much of the fine-scale variation in forest structures. We conclude that, while inventory data collected for forestry purposes may be useful for forest conservation purposes, it needs to be detailed enough to be able to account for more fine-scaled features of high conservation value. These results underline the importance of making detailed inventory data publicly available. Finally, we discuss how the prioritization methodology we used could be integrated into operative forest management, especially in countries in the boreal zone.

Large-scale conservation planning in a multinational marine environment: cost matters.

PubMed

Mazor, Tessa; Giakoumi, Sylvaine; Kark, Salit; Possingham, Hugh P

2014-07-01

Explicitly including cost in marine conservation planning is essential for achieving feasible and efficient conservation outcomes. Yet, spatial priorities for marine conservation are still often based solely on biodiversity hotspots, species richness, and/or cumulative threat maps. This study aims to provide an approach for including cost when planning large-scale Marine Protected Area (MPA) networks that span multiple countries. Here, we explore the incorporation of cost in the complex setting of the Mediterranean Sea. In order to include cost in conservation prioritization, we developed surrogates that account for revenue from multiple marine sectors: commercial fishing, noncommercial fishing, and aquaculture. Such revenue can translate into an opportunity cost for the implementation of an MPA network. Using the software Marxan, we set conservation targets to protect 10% of the distribution of 77 threatened marine species in the Mediterranean Sea. We compared nine scenarios of opportunity cost by calculating the area and cost required to meet our targets. We further compared our spatial priorities with those that are considered consensus areas by several proposed prioritization schemes in the Mediterranean Sea, none of which explicitly considers cost. We found that for less than 10% of the Sea's area, our conservation targets can be achieved while incurring opportunity costs of less than 1%. In marine systems, we reveal that area is a poor cost surrogate and that the most effective surrogates are those that account for multiple sectors or stakeholders. Furthermore, our results indicate that including cost can greatly influence the selection of spatial priorities for marine conservation of threatened species. Although there are known limitations in multinational large-scale planning, attempting to devise more systematic and rigorous planning methods is especially critical given that collaborative conservation action is on the rise and global financial crisis restricts conservation investments.

Project ACE Activity Sets. Book I: Grades 3, 4, and 5.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eden City Schools, NC.

Eleven activity sets suitable for supplementing social studies units in grades 3, 4, and 5 are presented. Each set lists appropriate resources, concepts, general objectives and instructional objectives for each activity within the set. Grade 3 sets are "You Can Help Conserve Our Natural Resources,""Urban Decay and Urban…

Identifying habitats at risk: simple models can reveal complex ecosystem dynamics.

PubMed

Maxwell, Paul S; Pitt, Kylie A; Olds, Andrew D; Rissik, David; Connolly, Rod M

2015-03-01

The relationship between ecological impact and ecosystem structure is often strongly nonlinear, so that small increases in impact levels can cause a disproportionately large response in ecosystem structure. Nonlinear ecosystem responses can be difficult to predict because locally relevant data sets can be difficult or impossible to obtain. Bayesian networks (BN) are an emerging tool that can help managers to define ecosystem relationships using a range of data types from comprehensive quantitative data sets to expert opinion. We show how a simple BN can reveal nonlinear dynamics in seagrass ecosystems using ecological relationships sourced from the literature. We first developed a conceptual diagram by cataloguing the ecological responses of seagrasses to a range of drivers and impacts. We used the conceptual diagram to develop a BN populated with values sourced from published studies. We then applied the BN to show that the amount of initial seagrass biomass has a mitigating effect on the level of impact a meadow can withstand without loss, and that meadow recovery can often require disproportionately large improvements in impact levels. This mitigating effect resulted in the middle ranges of impact levels having a wide likelihood of seagrass presence, a situation known as bistability. Finally, we applied the model in a case study to identify the risk of loss and the likelihood of recovery for the conservation and management of seagrass meadows in Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia. We used the model to predict the likelihood of bistability in 23 locations in the Bay. The model predicted bistability in seven locations, most of which have experienced seagrass loss at some stage in the past 25 years providing essential information for potential future restoration efforts. Our results demonstrate the capacity of simple, flexible modeling tools to facilitate collation and synthesis of disparate information. This approach can be adopted in the initial stages of conservation programs as a low-cost and relatively straightforward way to provide preliminary assessments of.nonlinear dynamics in ecosystems.

A case study of assigning conservation value to dispersed habitat units for conservation planning

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rohweder, Jason J.; Sara C. Vacek,; Crimmins, Shawn M.; Thogmartin, Wayne E.

2015-01-01

Resource managers are increasingly tasked with developing habitat conservation plans in the face of numerous, sometimes competing, objectives. These plans must often be implemented across dispersed habitat conservation units that may contribute unequally to overall conservation objectives. Using U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service waterfowl production areas (WPA) in western Minnesota as our conservation landscape, we develop a landscape-scale approach for evaluating the conservation value of dispersed habitat conservation units with multiple conservation priorities. We evaluated conservation value based on a suite of variables directly applicable to conservation management practices, thus providing a direct link between conservation actions and outcomes. We developed spatial models specific to each of these conservation objectives and also developed two freely available prioritization tools to implement these analyses. We found that some WPAs provided high conservation value across a range of conservation objectives, suggesting that managing these specific areas would achieve multiple conservation goals. Conversely, other WPAs provided low conservation value for some objectives, suggesting they would be most effectively managed for a distinct set of specific conservation goals. Approaches such as ours provide a direct means of assessing the conservation value of dispersed habitat conservation units and could be useful in the development of habitat management plans, particularly when faced with multiple conservation objectives.

Prioritizing Avian Species for Their Risk of Population-Level Consequences from Wind Energy Development

PubMed Central

Beston, Julie A.; Diffendorfer, Jay E.; Loss, Scott R.; Johnson, Douglas H.

2016-01-01

Recent growth in the wind energy industry has increased concerns about its impacts on wildlife populations. Direct impacts of wind energy include bird and bat collisions with turbines whereas indirect impacts include changes in wildlife habitat and behavior. Although many species may withstand these effects, species that are long-lived with low rates of reproduction, have specialized habitat preferences, or are attracted to turbines may be more prone to declines in population abundance. We developed a prioritization system to identify the avian species most likely to experience population declines from wind facilities based on their current conservation status and their expected risk from turbines. We developed 3 metrics of turbine risk that incorporate data on collision fatalities at wind facilities, population size, life history, species’ distributions relative to turbine locations, number of suitable habitat types, and species’ conservation status. We calculated at least 1 measure of turbine risk for 428 avian species that breed in the United States. We then simulated 100,000 random sets of cutoff criteria (i.e., the metric values used to assign species to different priority categories) for each turbine risk metric and for conservation status. For each set of criteria, we assigned each species a priority score and calculated the average priority score across all sets of criteria. Our prioritization system highlights both species that could potentially experience population decline caused by wind energy and species at low risk of population decline. For instance, several birds of prey, such as the long-eared owl, ferruginous hawk, Swainson’s hawk, and golden eagle, were at relatively high risk of population decline across a wide variety of cutoff values, whereas many passerines were at relatively low risk of decline. This prioritization system is a first step that will help researchers, conservationists, managers, and industry target future study and management activity. PMID:26963254

Prioritizing avian species for their risk of population-level consequences from wind energy development

USGS Publications Warehouse

Beston, Julie A.; Diffendorfer, James E.; Loss, Scott; Johnson, Douglas H.

2016-01-01

Recent growth in the wind energy industry has increased concerns about its impacts on wildlife populations. Direct impacts of wind energy include bird and bat collisions with turbines whereas indirect impacts include changes in wildlife habitat and behavior. Although many species may withstand these effects, species that are long-lived with low rates of reproduction, have specialized habitat preferences, or are attracted to turbines may be more prone to declines in population abundance. We developed a prioritization system to identify the avian species most likely to experience population declines from wind facilities based on their current conservation status and their expected risk from turbines. We developed 3 metrics of turbine risk that incorporate data on collision fatalities at wind facilities, population size, life history, species’ distributions relative to turbine locations, number of suitable habitat types, and species’ conservation status. We calculated at least 1 measure of turbine risk for 428 avian species that breed in the United States. We then simulated 100,000 random sets of cutoff criteria (i.e., the metric values used to assign species to different priority categories) for each turbine risk metric and for conservation status. For each set of criteria, we assigned each species a priority score and calculated the average priority score across all sets of criteria. Our prioritization system highlights both species that could potentially experience population decline caused by wind energy and species at low risk of population decline. For instance, several birds of prey, such as the long-eared owl, ferruginous hawk, Swainson’s hawk, and golden eagle, were at relatively high risk of population decline across a wide variety of cutoff values, whereas many passerines were at relatively low risk of decline. This prioritization system is a first step that will help researchers, conservationists, managers, and industry target future study and management activity.

Prioritizing Avian Species for Their Risk of Population-Level Consequences from Wind Energy Development.

PubMed

Beston, Julie A; Diffendorfer, Jay E; Loss, Scott R; Johnson, Douglas H

2016-01-01

Recent growth in the wind energy industry has increased concerns about its impacts on wildlife populations. Direct impacts of wind energy include bird and bat collisions with turbines whereas indirect impacts include changes in wildlife habitat and behavior. Although many species may withstand these effects, species that are long-lived with low rates of reproduction, have specialized habitat preferences, or are attracted to turbines may be more prone to declines in population abundance. We developed a prioritization system to identify the avian species most likely to experience population declines from wind facilities based on their current conservation status and their expected risk from turbines. We developed 3 metrics of turbine risk that incorporate data on collision fatalities at wind facilities, population size, life history, species' distributions relative to turbine locations, number of suitable habitat types, and species' conservation status. We calculated at least 1 measure of turbine risk for 428 avian species that breed in the United States. We then simulated 100,000 random sets of cutoff criteria (i.e., the metric values used to assign species to different priority categories) for each turbine risk metric and for conservation status. For each set of criteria, we assigned each species a priority score and calculated the average priority score across all sets of criteria. Our prioritization system highlights both species that could potentially experience population decline caused by wind energy and species at low risk of population decline. For instance, several birds of prey, such as the long-eared owl, ferruginous hawk, Swainson's hawk, and golden eagle, were at relatively high risk of population decline across a wide variety of cutoff values, whereas many passerines were at relatively low risk of decline. This prioritization system is a first step that will help researchers, conservationists, managers, and industry target future study and management activity.

Next generation sequencing and analysis of a conserved transcriptome of New Zealand's kiwi.

PubMed

Subramanian, Sankar; Huynen, Leon; Millar, Craig D; Lambert, David M

2010-12-15

Kiwi is a highly distinctive, flightless and endangered ratite bird endemic to New Zealand. To understand the patterns of molecular evolution of the nuclear protein-coding genes in brown kiwi (Apteryx australis mantelli) and to determine the timescale of avian history we sequenced a transcriptome obtained from a kiwi embryo using next generation sequencing methods. We then assembled the conserved protein-coding regions using the chicken proteome as a scaffold. Using 1,543 conserved protein coding genes we estimated the neutral evolutionary divergence between the kiwi and chicken to be ~45%, which is approximately equal to the divergence computed for the human-mouse pair using the same set of genes. A large fraction of genes was found to be under high selective constraint, as most of the expressed genes appeared to be involved in developmental gene regulation. Our study suggests a significant relationship between gene expression levels and protein evolution. Using sequences from over 700 nuclear genes we estimated the divergence between the two basal avian groups, Palaeognathae and Neognathae to be 132 million years, which is consistent with previous studies using mitochondrial genes. The results of this investigation revealed patterns of mutation and purifying selection in conserved protein coding regions in birds. Furthermore this study suggests a relatively cost-effective way of obtaining a glimpse into the fundamental molecular evolutionary attributes of a genome, particularly when no closely related genomic sequence is available.

Evolution and development of the vertebrate ear

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fritzsch, B.; Beisel, K. W.

2001-01-01

This review outlines major aspects of development and evolution of the ear, specifically addressing issues of cell fate commitment and the emerging molecular governance of these decisions. Available data support the notion of homology of subsets of mechanosensors across phyla (proprioreceptive mechanosensory neurons in insects, hair cells in vertebrates). It is argued that this conservation is primarily related to the specific transducing environment needed to achieve mechanosensation. Achieving this requires highly conserved transcription factors that regulate the expression of the relevant structural genes for mechanosensory transduction. While conserved at the level of some cell fate assignment genes (atonal and its mammalian homologue), the ear has also radically reorganized its development by implementing genes used for cell fate assignment in other parts of the developing nervous systems (e.g., neurogenin 1) and by evolving novel sets of genes specifically associated with the novel formation of sensory neurons that contact hair cells (neurotrophins and their receptors). Numerous genes have been identified that regulate morphogenesis, but there is only one common feature that emerges at the moment: the ear appears to have co-opted genes from a large variety of other parts of the developing body (forebrain, limbs, kidneys) and establishes, in combination with existing transcription factors, an environment in which those genes govern novel, ear-related morphogenetic aspects. The ear thus represents a unique mix of highly conserved developmental elements combined with co-opted and newly evolved developmental elements.

Some difficulties and inconsistencies when using habit strength and reasoned action variables in models of metered household water conservation.

PubMed

Jorgensen, Bradley S; Martin, John F; Pearce, Meryl; Willis, Eileen

2013-01-30

Research employing household water consumption data has sought to test models of water demand and conservation using variables from attitude theory. A significant, albeit unrecognised, challenge has been that attitude models describe individual-level motivations while consumption data is recorded at the household level thereby creating inconsistency between units of theory and measurement. This study employs structural equation modelling and moderated regression techniques to addresses the level of analysis problem, and tests hypotheses by isolating effects on water conservation in single-person households. Furthermore, the results question the explanatory utility of habit strength, perceived behavioural control, and intentions for understanding metered water conservation in single-person households. For example, evidence that intentions predict water conservation or that they interact with habit strength in single-person households was contrary to theoretical expectations. On the other hand, habit strength, self-reports of past water conservation, and perceived behavioural control were good predictors of intentions to conserve water. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Conserving the Stage: Climate Change and the Geophysical Underpinnings of Species Diversity

PubMed Central

Anderson, Mark G.; Ferree, Charles E.

2010-01-01

Conservationists have proposed methods for adapting to climate change that assume species distributions are primarily explained by climate variables. The key idea is to use the understanding of species-climate relationships to map corridors and to identify regions of faunal stability or high species turnover. An alternative approach is to adopt an evolutionary timescale and ask ultimately what factors control total diversity, so that over the long run the major drivers of total species richness can be protected. Within a single climatic region, the temperate area encompassing all of the Northeastern U.S. and Maritime Canada, we hypothesized that geologic factors may take precedence over climate in explaining diversity patterns. If geophysical diversity does drive regional diversity, then conserving geophysical settings may offer an approach to conservation that protects diversity under both current and future climates. Here we tested how well geology predicts the species diversity of 14 US states and three Canadian provinces, using a comprehensive new spatial dataset. Results of linear regressions of species diversity on all possible combinations of 23 geophysical and climatic variables indicated that four geophysical factors; the number of geological classes, latitude, elevation range and the amount of calcareous bedrock, predicted species diversity with certainty (adj. R2 = 0.94). To confirm the species-geology relationships we ran an independent test using 18,700 location points for 885 rare species and found that 40% of the species were restricted to a single geology. Moreover, each geology class supported 5–95 endemic species and chi-square tests confirmed that calcareous bedrock and extreme elevations had significantly more rare species than expected by chance (P<0.0001), strongly corroborating the regression model. Our results suggest that protecting geophysical settings will conserve the stage for current and future biodiversity and may be a robust alternative to species-level predictions. PMID:20644646

SNPs selected by information content outperform randomly selected microsatellite loci for delineating genetic identification and introgression in the endangered dark European honeybee (Apis mellifera mellifera).

PubMed

Muñoz, Irene; Henriques, Dora; Jara, Laura; Johnston, J Spencer; Chávez-Galarza, Julio; De La Rúa, Pilar; Pinto, M Alice

2017-07-01

The honeybee (Apis mellifera) has been threatened by multiple factors including pests and pathogens, pesticides and loss of locally adapted gene complexes due to replacement and introgression. In western Europe, the genetic integrity of the native A. m. mellifera (M-lineage) is endangered due to trading and intensive queen breeding with commercial subspecies of eastern European ancestry (C-lineage). Effective conservation actions require reliable molecular tools to identify pure-bred A. m. mellifera colonies. Microsatellites have been preferred for identification of A. m. mellifera stocks across conservation centres. However, owing to high throughput, easy transferability between laboratories and low genotyping error, SNPs promise to become popular. Here, we compared the resolving power of a widely utilized microsatellite set to detect structure and introgression with that of different sets that combine a variable number of SNPs selected for their information content and genomic proximity to the microsatellite loci. Contrary to every SNP data set, microsatellites did not discriminate between the two lineages in the PCA space. Mean introgression proportions were identical across the two marker types, although at the individual level, microsatellites' performance was relatively poor at the upper range of Q-values, a result reflected by their lower precision. Our results suggest that SNPs are more accurate and powerful than microsatellites for identification of A. m. mellifera colonies, especially when they are selected by information content. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Improvement of rheological properties of firm acid gels by skim milk heating is conserved after stirring.

PubMed

Cayot, P; Fairise, J F; Colas, B; Lorient, D; Brulé, G

2003-11-01

The enhancement of the strength of set acid gels by heating milk was related to rheological parameters (water retention capacity, storage modulus) of corresponding stirred gels. To obtain accurate rheological data from stirred gel it was necessary to maintain a constant granulometry of gel particles and to recognize time after stirring as a contributing factor. Two hours after stirring, the gel exhibited a higher storage modulus when milk was heated above 80 degrees C. A measurement of viscosity of just-stirred yoghurt was sufficient to predict correctly the quality of a stirred gel analysed by viscoelastic measurements. Increased resistance to syneresis of just-stirred gels was related to higher viscosity. The quantity of beta-lactoglobulin (beta-Ig) bound to casein micelles explains the improvement of these gel qualities. We have considered that the structure of the initial firm gel (mesostructure level) was conserved in fragments within the stirred gel. Consequently, the explanation given by various authors for the effect of heating milk on the properties of set gels can also be applied to stirred gels. The same mechanism, described in literature for structure formation of set gels from acidified milk is purposed to explain the role of heating milk on the recovery of gel structure after stirring. The beta-Ig association with casein micelles during heating favoured micelle connections during the acidification. It also favoured the association of gel fragments after stirring during the recovery in gel structure.

Did the notochord evolve from an ancient axial muscle? The axochord hypothesis

PubMed Central

Brunet, Thibaut; Lauri, Antonella

2015-01-01

The origin of the notochord is one of the key remaining mysteries of our evolutionary ancestry. Here, we present a multi‐level comparison of the chordate notochord to the axochord, a paired axial muscle spanning the ventral midline of annelid worms and other invertebrates. At the cellular level, comparative molecular profiling in the marine annelids P. dumerilii and C. teleta reveals expression of similar, specific gene sets in presumptive axochordal and notochordal cells. These cells also occupy corresponding positions in a conserved anatomical topology and undergo similar morphogenetic movements. At the organ level, a detailed comparison of bilaterian musculatures reveals that most phyla form axochord‐like muscles, suggesting that such a muscle was already present in urbilaterian ancestors. Integrating comparative evidence at the cell and organ level, we propose that the notochord evolved by modification of a ventromedian muscle followed by the assembly of an axial complex supporting swimming in vertebrate ancestors. PMID:26172338

Gene context conservation of a higher order than operons.

PubMed

Lathe, W C; Snel, B; Bork, P

2000-10-01

Operons, co-transcribed and co-regulated contiguous sets of genes, are poorly conserved over short periods of evolutionary time. The gene order, gene content and regulatory mechanisms of operons can be very different, even in closely related species. Here, we present several lines of evidence which suggest that, although an operon and its individual genes and regulatory structures are rearranged when comparing the genomes of different species, this rearrangement is a conservative process. Genomic rearrangements invariably maintain individual genes in very specific functional and regulatory contexts. We call this conserved context an uber-operon.

High-utility conserved avian microsatellite markers enable parentage and population studies across a wide range of species

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Microsatellites are widely used for many genetic studies. In contrast to single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and genotyping-by-sequencing methods, they are readily typed in samples of low DNA quality/concentration (e.g. museum/non-invasive samples), and enable the quick, cheap identification of species, hybrids, clones and ploidy. Microsatellites also have the highest cross-species utility of all types of markers used for genotyping, but, despite this, when isolated from a single species, only a relatively small proportion will be of utility. Marker development of any type requires skill and time. The availability of sufficient “off-the-shelf” markers that are suitable for genotyping a wide range of species would not only save resources but also uniquely enable new comparisons of diversity among taxa at the same set of loci. No other marker types are capable of enabling this. We therefore developed a set of avian microsatellite markers with enhanced cross-species utility. Results We selected highly-conserved sequences with a high number of repeat units in both of two genetically distant species. Twenty-four primer sets were designed from homologous sequences that possessed at least eight repeat units in both the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) and chicken (Gallus gallus). Each primer sequence was a complete match to zebra finch and, after accounting for degenerate bases, at least 86% similar to chicken. We assessed primer-set utility by genotyping individuals belonging to eight passerine and four non-passerine species. The majority of the new Conserved Avian Microsatellite (CAM) markers amplified in all 12 species tested (on average, 94% in passerines and 95% in non-passerines). This new marker set is of especially high utility in passerines, with a mean 68% of loci polymorphic per species, compared with 42% in non-passerine species. Conclusions When combined with previously described conserved loci, this new set of conserved markers will not only reduce the necessity and expense of microsatellite isolation for a wide range of genetic studies, including avian parentage and population analyses, but will also now enable comparisons of genetic diversity among different species (and populations) at the same set of loci, with no or reduced bias. Finally, the approach used here can be applied to other taxa in which appropriate genome sequences are available. PMID:23497230

Recording Information on Architectural Heritage Should Meet the Requirements for Conservation Digital Recording Practices at the Summer Palace

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, L.; Cong, Y.; Wu, C.; Bai, C.; Wu, C.

2017-08-01

The recording of Architectural heritage information is the foundation of research, conservation, management, and the display of architectural heritage. In other words, the recording of architectural heritage information supports heritage research, conservation, management and architectural heritage display. What information do we record and collect and what technology do we use for information recording? How do we determine the level of accuracy required when recording architectural information? What method do we use for information recording? These questions should be addressed in relation to the nature of the particular heritage site and the specific conditions for the conservation work. In recent years, with the rapid development of information acquisition technology such as Close Range Photogrammetry, 3D Laser Scanning as well as high speed and high precision Aerial Photogrammetry, many Chinese universities, research institutes and heritage management bureaux have purchased considerable equipment for information recording. However, the lack of understanding of both the nature of architectural heritage and the purpose for which the information is being collected has led to several problems. For example: some institutions when recording architectural heritage information aim solely at high accuracy. Some consider that advanced measuring methods must automatically replace traditional measuring methods. Information collection becomes the purpose, rather than the means, of architectural heritage conservation. Addressing these issues, this paper briefly reviews the history of architectural heritage information recording at the Summer Palace (Yihe Yuan, first built in 1750), Beijing. Using the recording practices at the Summer Palace during the past ten years as examples, we illustrate our achievements and lessons in recording architectural heritage information with regard to the following aspects: (buildings') ideal status desired, (buildings') current status, structural distortion analysis, display, statue restoration and thematic research. Three points will be highlighted in our discussion: 1. Understanding of the heritage is more important than the particular technology used: Architectural heritage information collection and recording are based on an understanding of the value and nature of the architectural heritage. Understanding is the purpose, whereas information collection and recording are the means. 2. Demand determines technology: Collecting and recording architectural heritage information is to serve the needs of heritage research, conservation, management and display. These different needs determine the different technologies that we use. 3. Set the level of accuracy appropriately: For information recording, high accuracy is not the key criterion; rather an appropriate level of accuracy is key. There is considerable deviation between the nominal accuracy of any instrument and the accuracy of any particular measurement.

Early Stage Blood Purification for Paraquat Poisoning: A Multicenter Retrospective Study.

PubMed

Li, An; Li, Wenxiong; Hao, Fengtong; Wang, Haishi

2016-01-01

To evaluate the efficacy of conservative treatment vs. hemoperfusion (HP) vs. HP + continuous veno-venous hemofiltration (CVVH) for acute Paraquat (PQ) poisoning. This was a multicenter retrospective study of patients with PQ poisoning between January 2013 and June 2014. Clinical data and PQ serum levels were collected at baseline and after 24, 48, and 72 h of treatment. Seventy-five, 65, and 43 underwent conservative treatment only (conservative treatment group), conservative treatment + HP (HP group), and conservative treatment + HP + CVVH (HP + CVVH group), respectively. PQ serum levels decreased in all groups after 72 h of treatment (p < 0.001); meanwhile, these values decreased faster in the HP and HP + CVVH groups compared with the conservative treatment group. More importantly, PQ blood levels were significantly lower in the HP + CVVH group compared with the HP group at 24 h (p < 0.05). Sequential organ failure assessment (ΔSOFA) values in the HP and HP + CVVH groups were significantly lower compared with that obtained for the conservative treatment group (p < 0.05). The 60-day survival rates were 21.3, 43.1 and 46.5%, respectively. Multivariate analysis indicated that age, PQ dose, admission PQ levels, and admission SOFA score were independently associated with mortality. HP and HP + CVVH were protective factors. Early HP or HP + CVVH after PQ poisoning could decrease PQ blood levels, alleviate organ damage, and increase survival. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Setting population targets for mammals using body mass as a predictor of population persistence.

PubMed

Hilbers, Jelle P; Santini, Luca; Visconti, Piero; Schipper, Aafke M; Pinto, Cecilia; Rondinini, Carlo; Huijbregts, Mark A J

2017-04-01

Conservation planning and biodiversity assessments need quantitative targets to optimize planning options and assess the adequacy of current species protection. However, targets aiming at persistence require population-specific data, which limit their use in favor of fixed and nonspecific targets, likely leading to unequal distribution of conservation efforts among species. We devised a method to derive equitable population targets; that is, quantitative targets of population size that ensure equal probabilities of persistence across a set of species and that can be easily inferred from species-specific traits. In our method, we used models of population dynamics across a range of life-history traits related to species' body mass to estimate minimum viable population targets. We applied our method to a range of body masses of mammals, from 2 g to 3825 kg. The minimum viable population targets decreased asymptotically with increasing body mass and were on the same order of magnitude as minimum viable population estimates from species- and context-specific studies. Our approach provides a compromise between pragmatic, nonspecific population targets and detailed context-specific estimates of population viability for which only limited data are available. It enables a first estimation of species-specific population targets based on a readily available trait and thus allows setting equitable targets for population persistence in large-scale and multispecies conservation assessments and planning. © 2016 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.

The role of marine reserves in achieving sustainable fisheries

PubMed Central

Roberts, Callum M.; Hawkins, Julie P.; Gell, Fiona R.

2005-01-01

Many fishery management tools currently in use have conservation value. They are designed to maintain stocks of commercially important species above target levels. However, their limitations are evident from continuing declines in fish stocks throughout the world. We make the case that to reverse fishery declines, safeguard marine life and sustain ecosystem processes, extensive marine reserves that are off limits to fishing must become part of the management strategy. Marine reserves should be incorporated into modern fishery management because they can achieve many things that conventional tools cannot. Only complete and permanent protection from fishing can protect the most sensitive habitats and vulnerable species. Only reserves will allow the development of natural, extended age structures of target species, maintain their genetic variability and prevent deleterious evolutionary change from the effects of fishing. Species with natural age structures will sustain higher rates of reproduction and will be more resilient to environmental variability. Higher stock levels maintained by reserves will provide insurance against management failure, including risk-prone quota setting, provided the broader conservation role of reserves is firmly established and legislatively protected. Fishery management measures outside protected areas are necessary to complement the protection offered by marine reserves, but cannot substitute for it. PMID:15713592

A Descriptive Model of a Family Communiversity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kohut, Nester C.

Family conservation is a new approach for strengthening nuclear families on a system level. The family communiversity is an agency developed to effect that approach. A discussion of family conservation on the systems level concerns the need for coping with those forces detrimental to families. The objective of family conservation is to maximize…

Finite Element Methods and Multiphase Continuum Theory for Modeling 3D Air-Water-Sediment Interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kees, C. E.; Miller, C. T.; Dimakopoulos, A.; Farthing, M.

2016-12-01

The last decade has seen an expansion in the development and application of 3D free surface flow models in the context of environmental simulation. These models are based primarily on the combination of effective algorithms, namely level set and volume-of-fluid methods, with high-performance, parallel computing. These models are still computationally expensive and suitable primarily when high-fidelity modeling near structures is required. While most research on algorithms and implementations has been conducted in the context of finite volume methods, recent work has extended a class of level set schemes to finite element methods on unstructured methods. This work considers models of three-phase flow in domains containing air, water, and granular phases. These multi-phase continuum mechanical formulations show great promise for applications such as analysis of coastal and riverine structures. This work will consider formulations proposed in the literature over the last decade as well as new formulations derived using the thermodynamically constrained averaging theory, an approach to deriving and closing macroscale continuum models for multi-phase and multi-component processes. The target applications require the ability to simulate wave breaking and structure over-topping, particularly fully three-dimensional, non-hydrostatic flows that drive these phenomena. A conservative level set scheme suitable for higher-order finite element methods is used to describe the air/water phase interaction. The interaction of these air/water flows with granular materials, such as sand and rubble, must also be modeled. The range of granular media dynamics targeted including flow and wave transmision through the solid media as well as erosion and deposition of granular media and moving bed dynamics. For the granular phase we consider volume- and time-averaged continuum mechanical formulations that are discretized with the finite element method and coupled to the underlying air/water flow via operator splitting (fractional step) schemes. Particular attention will be given to verification and validation of the numerical model and important qualitative features of the numerical methods including phase conservation, wave energy dissipation, and computational efficiency in regimes of interest.

Integrated stoichiometric, thermodynamic and kinetic modelling of steady state metabolism

PubMed Central

Fleming, R.M.T.; Thiele, I.; Provan, G.; Nasheuer, H.P.

2010-01-01

The quantitative analysis of biochemical reactions and metabolites is at frontier of biological sciences. The recent availability of high-throughput technology data sets in biology has paved the way for new modelling approaches at various levels of complexity including the metabolome of a cell or an organism. Understanding the metabolism of a single cell and multi-cell organism will provide the knowledge for the rational design of growth conditions to produce commercially valuable reagents in biotechnology. Here, we demonstrate how equations representing steady state mass conservation, energy conservation, the second law of thermodynamics, and reversible enzyme kinetics can be formulated as a single system of linear equalities and inequalities, in addition to linear equalities on exponential variables. Even though the feasible set is non-convex, the reformulation is exact and amenable to large-scale numerical analysis, a prerequisite for computationally feasible genome scale modelling. Integrating flux, concentration and kinetic variables in a unified constraint-based formulation is aimed at increasing the quantitative predictive capacity of flux balance analysis. Incorporation of experimental and theoretical bounds on thermodynamic and kinetic variables ensures that the predicted steady state fluxes are both thermodynamically and biochemically feasible. The resulting in silico predictions are tested against fluxomic data for central metabolism in E. coli and compare favourably with in silico prediction by flux balance analysis. PMID:20230840

An extended sequential goodness-of-fit multiple testing method for discrete data.

PubMed

Castro-Conde, Irene; Döhler, Sebastian; de Uña-Álvarez, Jacobo

2017-10-01

The sequential goodness-of-fit (SGoF) multiple testing method has recently been proposed as an alternative to the familywise error rate- and the false discovery rate-controlling procedures in high-dimensional problems. For discrete data, the SGoF method may be very conservative. In this paper, we introduce an alternative SGoF-type procedure that takes into account the discreteness of the test statistics. Like the original SGoF, our new method provides weak control of the false discovery rate/familywise error rate but attains false discovery rate levels closer to the desired nominal level, and thus it is more powerful. We study the performance of this method in a simulation study and illustrate its application to a real pharmacovigilance data set.

76 FR 78174 - Energy Conservation Program: Test Procedure and Energy Conservation Standard for Set-Top Boxes...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-12-16

...): The capability to interface with external devices over a high bandwidth network (e.g., IEEE 802.11 (WiFi), MoCA, HPNA). For purposes of this specification, IEEE 802.3 wired Ethernet is not considered a...

76 FR 34053 - Marine Mammals; File No. 16314

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-10

... and Education Division, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Room 13705... on this application should be submitted to the Chief, Permits, Conservation and Education Division..., Permits, Conservation and Education Division at the address listed above. The request should set forth the...

International interlaboratory study comparing single organism 16S rRNA gene sequencing data: Beyond consensus sequence comparisons

PubMed Central

Olson, Nathan D.; Lund, Steven P.; Zook, Justin M.; Rojas-Cornejo, Fabiola; Beck, Brian; Foy, Carole; Huggett, Jim; Whale, Alexandra S.; Sui, Zhiwei; Baoutina, Anna; Dobeson, Michael; Partis, Lina; Morrow, Jayne B.

2015-01-01

This study presents the results from an interlaboratory sequencing study for which we developed a novel high-resolution method for comparing data from different sequencing platforms for a multi-copy, paralogous gene. The combination of PCR amplification and 16S ribosomal RNA gene (16S rRNA) sequencing has revolutionized bacteriology by enabling rapid identification, frequently without the need for culture. To assess variability between laboratories in sequencing 16S rRNA, six laboratories sequenced the gene encoding the 16S rRNA from Escherichia coli O157:H7 strain EDL933 and Listeria monocytogenes serovar 4b strain NCTC11994. Participants performed sequencing methods and protocols available in their laboratories: Sanger sequencing, Roche 454 pyrosequencing®, or Ion Torrent PGM®. The sequencing data were evaluated on three levels: (1) identity of biologically conserved position, (2) ratio of 16S rRNA gene copies featuring identified variants, and (3) the collection of variant combinations in a set of 16S rRNA gene copies. The same set of biologically conserved positions was identified for each sequencing method. Analytical methods using Bayesian and maximum likelihood statistics were developed to estimate variant copy ratios, which describe the ratio of nucleotides at each identified biologically variable position, as well as the likely set of variant combinations present in 16S rRNA gene copies. Our results indicate that estimated variant copy ratios at biologically variable positions were only reproducible for high throughput sequencing methods. Furthermore, the likely variant combination set was only reproducible with increased sequencing depth and longer read lengths. We also demonstrate novel methods for evaluating variable positions when comparing multi-copy gene sequence data from multiple laboratories generated using multiple sequencing technologies. PMID:27077030

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cai Ronggen; Cao Liming; Pang Dawei

Recently Gibbons et al. in [G. W. Gibbons et al. Class. Quant. Grav. 22, 1503 (2005)] defined a set of conserved quantities for Kerr-AdS black holes with the maximal number of rotation parameters in arbitrary dimension. This set of conserved quantities is defined with respect to a frame which is nonrotating at infinity. On the other hand, there is another set of conserved quantities for Kerr-AdS black holes, defined by Hawking et al. in [Hawking et al. Phys. Rev. D 59, 064005 (1999)], which is measured relative to a frame rotating at infinity. Gibbons et al. explicitly showed that themore » quantities defined by them satisfy the first law of black hole thermodynamics, while those quantities defined by Hawking et al. do not obey the first law. In this paper we discuss thermodynamics of dual CFTs to the Kerr-AdS black holes by mapping the bulk thermodynamic quantities to the boundary of the AdS space. We find that thermodynamic quantities of dual CFTs satisfy the first law of thermodynamics and Cardy-Verlinde formula only when these thermodynamic quantities result from the set of bulk quantities given by Hawking et al.. We discuss the implication of our results.« less

Wildlife connectivity approaches and best practices in U.S. state wildlife action plans.

PubMed

Lacher, Iara; Wilkerson, Marit L

2014-02-01

As habitat loss and fragmentation threaten biodiversity on large geographic scales, creating and maintaining connectivity of wildlife populations is an increasingly common conservation objective. To assess the progress and success of large-scale connectivity planning, conservation researchers need a set of plans that cover large geographic areas and can be analyzed as a single data set. The state wildlife action plans (SWAPs) fulfill these requirements. We examined 50 SWAPs to determine the extent to which wildlife connectivity planning, via linkages, is emphasized nationally. We defined linkage as connective land that enables wildlife movement. For our content analysis, we identified and quantified 6 keywords and 7 content criteria that ranged in specificity and were related to linkages for wide-ranging terrestrial vertebrates and examined relations between content criteria and statewide data on focal wide-ranging species, spending, revenue, and conserved land. Our results reflect nationwide disparities in linkage conservation priorities and highlight the continued need for wildlife linkage planning. Only 30% or less of the 50 SWAPs fulfilled highly specific content criteria (e.g., identifying geographic areas for linkage placement or management). We found positive correlations between our content criteria and statewide data on percent conserved land, total focal species, and spending on parks and recreation. We supplemented our content analysis with interviews with 17 conservation professionals to gain specific information about state-specific context and future directions of linkage conservation. Based on our results, relevant literature, and interview responses, we suggest the following best practices for wildlife linkage conservation plans: collect ecologically meaningful background data; be specific; establish community-wide partnerships; and incorporate sociopolitical and socioeconomic information. © 2013 Society for Conservation Biology.

Mass Conservation and Positivity Preservation with Ensemble-type Kalman Filter Algorithms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Janjic, Tijana; McLaughlin, Dennis B.; Cohn, Stephen E.; Verlaan, Martin

2013-01-01

Maintaining conservative physical laws numerically has long been recognized as being important in the development of numerical weather prediction (NWP) models. In the broader context of data assimilation, concerted efforts to maintain conservation laws numerically and to understand the significance of doing so have begun only recently. In order to enforce physically based conservation laws of total mass and positivity in the ensemble Kalman filter, we incorporate constraints to ensure that the filter ensemble members and the ensemble mean conserve mass and remain nonnegative through measurement updates. We show that the analysis steps of ensemble transform Kalman filter (ETKF) algorithm and ensemble Kalman filter algorithm (EnKF) can conserve the mass integral, but do not preserve positivity. Further, if localization is applied or if negative values are simply set to zero, then the total mass is not conserved either. In order to ensure mass conservation, a projection matrix that corrects for localization effects is constructed. In order to maintain both mass conservation and positivity preservation through the analysis step, we construct a data assimilation algorithms based on quadratic programming and ensemble Kalman filtering. Mass and positivity are both preserved by formulating the filter update as a set of quadratic programming problems that incorporate constraints. Some simple numerical experiments indicate that this approach can have a significant positive impact on the posterior ensemble distribution, giving results that are more physically plausible both for individual ensemble members and for the ensemble mean. The results show clear improvements in both analyses and forecasts, particularly in the presence of localized features. Behavior of the algorithm is also tested in presence of model error.

Conservation value of low-productivity forests measured as the amount and diversity of dead wood and saproxylic beetles.

PubMed

Hämäläinen, Aino; Strengbom, Joachim; Ranius, Thomas

2018-06-01

In many managed landscapes, low-productivity land comprises most of the remaining relatively untouched areas, and is often over-represented within protected areas. The relationship between the productivity and conservational value of a site is poorly known; however, it has been hypothesized that biodiversity increases with productivity due to higher resource abundance or heterogeneity, and that the species communities of low-productivity land are a nested subset of communities from more productive land. We tested these hypotheses for dead-wood-dependent beetles by comparing their species richness and composition, as well as the amount and diversity of dead wood, between low-productivity (potential forest growth <1 m 3 ·ha -1 ·yr -1 ) and high-productivity Scots pine-dominated stands in Sweden. We included four stand types: stands situated on (1) thin soils and (2) mires (both low-productivity), (3) managed stands, and (4) unmanaged stands set aside for conservation purposes (both high-productivity). Beetle species richness and number of red-listed species were highest in the high-productivity set-asides. Species richness was positively correlated with the volume and diversity of dead wood, but volume appeared to be a better predictor than diversity for the higher species richness in set-asides. Beetle species composition was similar among stand types, and the assemblages in low-productivity stands were largely subsets of those in high-productivity set-asides. However, 11% of all species and 40% of red-listed species only occurred in high-productivity stands, while no species were unique to low-productivity stands. We conclude that low-productivity forests are less valuable for conservation than high-productivity forest land. Given the generally similar species composition among stand types, a comparable conservational effect could be obtained by setting aside a larger area of low-productivity forest in comparison to the high-productivity. In terms of dead wood volumes, 1.8-3.6 ha of low-productivity forest has the same value as 1 ha of unmanaged high-productivity forest. This figure can be used to estimate the conservation value of low-productivity forests; however, as high-productivity forests harbored some unique species, they are not completely exchangeable. © 2018 The Authors. Ecological Applications published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Ecological Society of America.

Functional region prediction with a set of appropriate homologous sequences-an index for sequence selection by integrating structure and sequence information with spatial statistics

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background The detection of conserved residue clusters on a protein structure is one of the effective strategies for the prediction of functional protein regions. Various methods, such as Evolutionary Trace, have been developed based on this strategy. In such approaches, the conserved residues are identified through comparisons of homologous amino acid sequences. Therefore, the selection of homologous sequences is a critical step. It is empirically known that a certain degree of sequence divergence in the set of homologous sequences is required for the identification of conserved residues. However, the development of a method to select homologous sequences appropriate for the identification of conserved residues has not been sufficiently addressed. An objective and general method to select appropriate homologous sequences is desired for the efficient prediction of functional regions. Results We have developed a novel index to select the sequences appropriate for the identification of conserved residues, and implemented the index within our method to predict the functional regions of a protein. The implementation of the index improved the performance of the functional region prediction. The index represents the degree of conserved residue clustering on the tertiary structure of the protein. For this purpose, the structure and sequence information were integrated within the index by the application of spatial statistics. Spatial statistics is a field of statistics in which not only the attributes but also the geometrical coordinates of the data are considered simultaneously. Higher degrees of clustering generate larger index scores. We adopted the set of homologous sequences with the highest index score, under the assumption that the best prediction accuracy is obtained when the degree of clustering is the maximum. The set of sequences selected by the index led to higher functional region prediction performance than the sets of sequences selected by other sequence-based methods. Conclusions Appropriate homologous sequences are selected automatically and objectively by the index. Such sequence selection improved the performance of functional region prediction. As far as we know, this is the first approach in which spatial statistics have been applied to protein analyses. Such integration of structure and sequence information would be useful for other bioinformatics problems. PMID:22643026

Focusing ecological research for conservation.

PubMed

Cristescu, Bogdan; Boyce, Mark S

2013-11-01

Ecologists are increasingly actively involved in conservation. We identify five key topics from a broad sweep of ecology that merit research attention to meet conservation needs. We examine questions from landscape ecology, behavioral ecology, ecosystem dynamics, community ecology, and nutrient cycling related to key topics. Based on literature review and publication trend assessment, consultation with colleagues, and roundtable discussions at the 24th International Congress for Conservation Biology, focused research on the following topics could benefit conservation while advancing ecological understanding: 1. Carbon sequestration, requiring increased linkages to biodiversity conservation; 2. Ecological invasiveness, challenging our ability to find solutions to ecological aliens; 3. Individual variation, having applications in the conservation of rare species; 4. Movement of organisms, integrating ecological processes across landscapes and scales and addressing habitat fragmentation; and 5. Trophic-level interactions, driving ecological dynamics at the ecosystem-level. Addressing these will require cross-disciplinary research under the overarching framework of conservation ecology.

A comparison of global conservation prioritization models with spatial spending patterns of conservation nongovernmental organizations.

PubMed

Holmes, George; Scholfield, Katherine; Brockington, Dan

2012-08-01

In recent decades, various conservation organizations have developed models to prioritize locations for conservation. Through a survey of the spending patterns of 281 conservation nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), we examined the relation between 2 such models and spatial patterns of spending by conservation NGOs in 44 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. We tested whether, at the country level, the proportion of a country designated as a conservation priority was correlated with where NGOs spent money. For one model (the combination of Conservation International's hotspots and High Biodiversity Wilderness Areas, which are areas of high endemism with high or low levels of vegetation loss respectively), there was no relation between the proportion of a country designated as a priority and levels of NGO spending, including by the NGO associated with the model. In the second model (Global 200), the proportion of a country designated as a priority and the amount of money spent by NGOs were significantly and positively related. Less money was spent in countries in northern and western sub-Saharan Africa than countries in southern and eastern Africa, relative to the proportion of the country designated as a conservation priority. We suggest that on the basis of our results some NGOs consider increasing their spending on the areas designated as of conservation priority which are currently relatively underfunded, although there are economic, political, cultural, historical, biological, and practical reasons why current spending patterns may not align with priority sites. ©2012 Society for Conservation Biology.

Supporting local diversity of habitats and species on farmland: a comparison of three wildlife-friendly schemes.

PubMed

Hardman, Chloe J; Harrison, Dominic P G; Shaw, Pete J; Nevard, Tim D; Hughes, Brin; Potts, Simon G; Norris, Ken

2016-02-01

Restoration and maintenance of habitat diversity have been suggested as conservation priorities in farmed landscapes, but how this should be achieved and at what scale are unclear. This study makes a novel comparison of the effectiveness of three wildlife-friendly farming schemes for supporting local habitat diversity and species richness on 12 farms in England.The schemes were: (i) Conservation Grade (Conservation Grade: a prescriptive, non-organic, biodiversity-focused scheme), (ii) organic agriculture and (iii) a baseline of Entry Level Stewardship (Entry Level Stewardship: a flexible widespread government scheme). Conservation Grade farms supported a quarter higher habitat diversity at the 100-m radius scale compared to Entry Level Stewardship farms. Conservation Grade and organic farms both supported a fifth higher habitat diversity at the 250-m radius scale compared to Entry Level Stewardship farms. Habitat diversity at the 100-m and 250-m scales significantly predicted species richness of butterflies and plants. Habitat diversity at the 100-m scale also significantly predicted species richness of birds in winter and solitary bees. There were no significant relationships between habitat diversity and species richness for bumblebees or birds in summer.Butterfly species richness was significantly higher on organic farms (50% higher) and marginally higher on Conservation Grade farms (20% higher), compared with farms in Entry Level Stewardship. Organic farms supported significantly more plant species than Entry Level Stewardship farms (70% higher) but Conservation Grade farms did not (10% higher). There were no significant differences between the three schemes for species richness of bumblebees, solitary bees or birds. Policy implications . The wildlife-friendly farming schemes which included compulsory changes in management, Conservation Grade and organic, were more effective at increasing local habitat diversity and species richness compared with the less prescriptive Entry Level Stewardship scheme. We recommend that wildlife-friendly farming schemes should aim to enhance and maintain high local habitat diversity, through mechanisms such as option packages, where farmers are required to deliver a combination of several habitats.

Female patients' and parents' assessment of deformity- and brace-related stress in the conservative treatment of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

PubMed

Misterska, Ewa; Glowacki, Maciej; Latuszewska, Joanna

2012-06-15

A cross-sectional analysis of parents' and patients' perceptions of deformity- and brace-related stress regarding conservative treatment of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. The purpose of this study was to determine the agreement between patients' and parents' assessments of emotional stress and to compare these assessments with radiographical measurements of spinal deformity. Conservative treatment in patients with scoliosis may cause emotional stress. To our knowledge, no group has ever reported patient and parental estimation of stress related to wearing a brace and spinal deformity in girls with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. Sixty-three pairs of parents and girls with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis treated with a Cheneau brace were separately asked to complete the Bad Sobberheim Stress Questionnaire-Deformity and the Bad Sobberheim Stress Questionnaire-Brace. The age range of the patients was from 10 to 17 years. Patients were assessed at a mean of 14.12 (SD, 10.99) months after the start of the conservative treatment. Patients thought that a moderate level of stress was connected with conservative treatment; however, the stress level, related to perceived trunk deformation, was low. From the parents' perspective, patients experienced a moderate level of stress during conservative treatment and related to spinal deformity. The study groups differ in their perception of stress levels due to body disfigurement but not during the conservative treatment. Parent-patient stress-level disparities were not related to body mass index, age of the patient, brace application, and radiographical measurements of spinal deformity. Patients and parents perceive the emotional stress related to brace treatment in the same way; however, parents overestimate the assessment of stress levels related to body deformity. From the perspective of patients and parents, brace wearing increased the level of stress induced by the deformity alone. Complete assessment of conservative treatment should include evaluation of emotional stress from the perspective of patients and parents.

10 CFR 429.12 - General requirements applicable to certification reports.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... ceiling fan light kits, Residential showerheads, Residential faucets, Residential water closets, and.... 429.12 Section 429.12 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ENERGY CONSERVATION CERTIFICATION, COMPLIANCE, AND... conservation standard set forth in parts 430 or 431, and annually thereafter on or before the dates provided in...

18 CFR 284.503 - Market-power determination.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Market-power determination. 284.503 Section 284.503 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY... that complies with the following: (a) The applicant must set forth its specific request and adequately...

18 CFR 284.503 - Market-power determination.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Market-power determination. 284.503 Section 284.503 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY... that complies with the following: (a) The applicant must set forth its specific request and adequately...

18 CFR 284.503 - Market-power determination.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Market-power determination. 284.503 Section 284.503 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY... that complies with the following: (a) The applicant must set forth its specific request and adequately...

18 CFR 284.503 - Market-power determination.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Market-power determination. 284.503 Section 284.503 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY... that complies with the following: (a) The applicant must set forth its specific request and adequately...

Energy & Conservation Glossary. Third Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amend, John; And Others

Defined in this glossary are nearly 800 terms related to energy and conservation. Space provided at the end of each alphabetic section allows users to add new words and definitions. This publication is part of a set of resources prepared for teachers by "Energy and Man's Environment." (Author/WB)

18 CFR 157.201 - Applicability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Applicability. 157.201 Section 157.201 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT... are set forth in subpart G of part 284 of this chapter. (d) Availability of case-specific certificates...

Volumetric formulation for a class of kinetic models with energy conservation.

PubMed

Sbragaglia, M; Sugiyama, K

2010-10-01

We analyze a volumetric formulation of lattice Boltzmann for compressible thermal fluid flows. The velocity set is chosen with the desired accuracy, based on the Gauss-Hermite quadrature procedure, and tested against controlled problems in bounded and unbounded fluids. The method allows the simulation of thermohydrodyamical problems without the need to preserve the exact space-filling nature of the velocity set, but still ensuring the exact conservation laws for density, momentum, and energy. Issues related to boundary condition problems and improvements based on grid refinement are also investigated.

Measuring and explaining the willingness to pay for forest conservation: evidence from a survey experiment in Brazil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bakaki, Zorzeta; Bernauer, Thomas

2016-11-01

Recent research suggests that there is substantial public support (including willingness to pay) for forest conservation. Based on a nationwide survey experiment in Brazil (N = 2500) the largest and richest of the world’s tropical developing countries, we shed new light on this issue. To what extent does the public in fact support forest conservation and what factors are influencing support levels? Unlike previous studies, our results show that the willingness to pay for tropical forest conservation in Brazil is rather low. Moreover, framing forest conservation in terms of biodiversity protection, which tends to create more local benefits, does not induce more support than framing conservation in terms of mitigating global climate change. The results also show that low levels of trust in public institutions have a strong negative impact on the public’s willingness to pay for forest conservation, individually and/or via government spending. What could other (richer) countries do, in this context, to encourage forest conservation in Brazil and other tropical developing countries? One key issue is whether prospects of foreign funding for forest conservation are likely to crowd out or, conversely, enhance the motivation for domestic level conservation efforts. We find that prospects of foreign funding have no significant effect on willingness to pay for forest conservation. These findings have at least three policy implications, namely, that the Brazilian public’s willingness to pay for forest conservation is very limited, that large-scale international funding is probably needed, and that such funding is unlikely to encourage more domestic effort, but is also unlikely to crowd out domestic efforts. Restoring public trust in the Brazilian government is key to increasing public support for forest conservation in Brazil.

Heterozygosity-fitness correlations among wild populations of European tree frog (Hyla arborea) detect fixation load.

PubMed

Luquet, E; David, P; Lena, J-P; Joly, P; Konecny, L; Dufresnes, C; Perrin, N; Plenet, S

2011-05-01

Quantifying the impacts of inbreeding and genetic drift on fitness traits in fragmented populations is becoming a major goal in conservation biology. Such impacts occur at different levels and involve different sets of loci. Genetic drift randomly fixes slightly deleterious alleles leading to different fixation load among populations. By contrast, inbreeding depression arises from highly deleterious alleles in segregation within a population and creates variation among individuals. A popular approach is to measure correlations between molecular variation and phenotypic performances. This approach has been mainly used at the individual level to detect inbreeding depression within populations and sometimes at the population level but without consideration about the genetic processes measured. For the first time, we used in this study a molecular approach considering both the interpopulation and intrapopulation level to discriminate the relative importance of inbreeding depression vs. fixation load in isolated and non-fragmented populations of European tree frog (Hyla arborea), complemented with interpopulational crosses. We demonstrated that the positive correlations observed between genetic heterozygosity and larval performances on merged data were mainly caused by co-variations in genetic diversity and fixation load among populations rather than by inbreeding depression and segregating deleterious alleles within populations. Such a method is highly relevant in a conservation perspective because, depending on how populations lose fitness (inbreeding vs. fixation load), specific management actions may be designed to improve the persistence of populations. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Cadmium exposure and the epigenome

PubMed Central

Sanders, Alison P; Smeester, Lisa; Rojas, Daniel; DeBussycher, Tristan; Wu, Michael C; Wright, Fred A; Zhou, Yi-Hui; Laine, Jessica E; Rager, Julia E; Swamy, Geeta K; Ashley-Koch, Allison; Lynn Miranda, Marie; Fry, Rebecca C

2014-01-01

Cadmium (Cd) is prevalent in the environment yet understudied as a developmental toxicant. Cd partially crosses the placental barrier from mother to fetus and is linked to detrimental effects in newborns. Here we examine the relationship between levels of Cd during pregnancy and 5-methylcytosine (5mC) levels in leukocyte DNA collected from 17 mother-newborn pairs. The methylation of cytosines is an epigenetic mechanism known to impact transcriptional signaling and influence health endpoints. A methylated cytosine-guanine (CpG) island recovery assay was used to assess over 4.6 million sites spanning 16,421 CpG islands. Exposure to Cd was classified for each mother-newborn pair according to maternal blood levels and compared with levels of cotinine. Subsets of genes were identified that showed altered DNA methylation levels in their promoter regions in fetal DNA associated with levels of Cd (n = 61), cotinine (n = 366), or both (n = 30). Likewise, in maternal DNA, differentially methylated genes were identified that were associated with Cd (n = 92) or cotinine (n = 134) levels. While the gene sets were largely distinct between maternal and fetal DNA, functional similarities at the biological pathway level were identified including an enrichment of genes that encode for proteins that control transcriptional regulation and apoptosis. Furthermore, conserved DNA motifs with sequence similarity to specific transcription factor binding sites were identified within the CpG islands of the gene sets. This study provides evidence for distinct patterns of DNA methylation or “footprints” in fetal and maternal DNA associated with exposure to Cd. PMID:24169490

[Landscape planning approaches for biodiversity conservation in agriculture].

PubMed

Liu, Yun-hui; Li, Liang-tao; Yu, Zhen-rong

2008-11-01

Biodiversity conservation in agriculture not only relates to the sustainable development of agriculture, but also is an essential part of species conservation. In recent years, the landscape planning approach for biodiversity was highlighted instead of species-focused approach. In this paper, the landscape factors affecting the biodiversity in agriculture were reviewed, and the possible landscape approaches at three different scales for more efficient conservation of biodiversity in agro-landscape were suggested, including: (1) the increase of the proportion of natural or semi-natural habitats in agriculture, diversification of land use or crop pattern, and protection or construction of corridor at landscape level; (2) the establishment of non-cropping elements such as field margin at between-field level; and (3) the application of reasonable crop density, crop distribution pattern and rotation, and intercrop etc. at within-field level. It was suggested that the relevant policies for natural conservation, land use planning, and ecological compensation should be made to apply the landscape approaches for biodiversity conservation at larger scale.

Pancreatitis in the Setting of Vaso-occlusive Sickle Cell Crisis: A Rare Encounter.

PubMed

Hasan, Badar; Asif, Talal; Braun, Cody; Bahaj, Waled; Dosokey, Eslam; Pauly, Rebecca R

2017-04-25

Acute pancreatitis is a common cause of acute abdominal pain. Gallstones and alcohol abuse account for the majority of the cases. Pancreatic ischemia is an uncommon but established cause of pancreatitis associated with connective tissue diseases, vasculitis, and shock. Our case highlights a rare case of vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC) in a patient with sickle cell (SC) disease leading to pancreatitis. Treatment remains largely conservative but exchange transfusion may be the therapy of choice in severely hypoxic patients or in patients with high pre-treatment hemoglobin S levels.

Numerical simulation of bubble deformation in magnetic fluids by finite volume method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yamasaki, Haruhiko; Yamaguchi, Hiroshi

2017-06-01

Bubble deformation in magnetic fluids under magnetic field is investigated numerically by an interface capturing method. The numerical method consists of a coupled level-set and VOF (Volume of Fluid) method, combined with conservation CIP (Constrained Interpolation Profile) method with the self-correcting procedure. In the present study considering actual physical properties of magnetic fluid, bubble deformation under given uniform magnetic field is analyzed for internal magnetic field passing through a magnetic gaseous and liquid phase interface. The numerical results explain the mechanism of bubble deformation under presence of given magnetic field.

Human perspectives and conservation of grizzly bears in Banff National Park, Canada.

PubMed

Chamberlain, Emily C; Rutherford, Murray B; Gibeau, Michael L

2012-06-01

Some conservation initiatives provoke intense conflict among stakeholders. The need for action, the nature of the conservation measures, and the effects of these measures on human interests may be disputed. Tools are needed to depolarize such situations, foster understanding of the perspectives of people involved, and find common ground. We used Q methodology to explore stakeholders' perspectives on conservation and management of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis) in Banff National Park and the Bow River watershed of Alberta, Canada. Twenty-nine stakeholders participated in the study, including local residents, scientists, agency employees, and representatives of nongovernmental conservation organizations and other interest groups. Participants rank ordered a set of statements to express their opinions on the problems of grizzly bear management (I-IV) and a second set of statements on possible solutions to the problems (A-C). Factor analysis revealed that participants held 4 distinct views of the problems: individuals associated with factor I emphasized deficiencies in goals and plans; those associated with factor II believed that problems had been exaggerated; those associated with factor III blamed institutional flaws such as disjointed management and inadequate resources; and individuals associated with factor IV blamed politicized decision making. There were 3 distinct views about the best solutions to the problems: individuals associated with factor A called for increased conservation efforts; those associated with factor B wanted reforms in decision-making processes; and individuals associated with factor C supported active landscape management. We connected people's definitions of the problem with their preferred solutions to form 5 overall problem narratives espoused by groups in the study: the problem is deficient goals and plans, the solution is to prioritize conservation efforts (planning-oriented conservation advocates); the problem is flawed institutions, the solution is to prioritize conservation efforts (institutionally-oriented conservation advocates); the problems have been exaggerated, but there is a need to improve decision-making processes (optimistic decision-process reformers); the problems have been exaggerated, but managers should more actively manage the landscape (optimistic landscape managers); and the problem is politicized decision making, solutions vary (democratizers). Although these 5 groups differed on many issues, they agreed that the population of grizzly bears is vulnerable to extirpation, human use of the area should be designed around ecological constraints, and more inclusive decision-making processes are needed. We used our results to inform a series of workshops in which stakeholders developed and agreed on new management strategies that were implemented by Parks Canada. Our research demonstrates the usefulness of Q method to illuminate people's perspectives and identify common ground in settings where conservation is contested. ©2012 Society for Conservation Biology.

Conservatism in America--What Does it Mean for Teacher Education?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dolce, Carl J.

The current conflict among opposing sets of cultural ideals is illustrated by several interrelated conditions. The conservative phenomenon is more complex than the traditional liberal-conservative dichotomy would suggest. Changes in societal conditions invite a reexamination of basic assumptions across the broad spectrum of political ideology.…

Hypothermia and Energy Conservation: A Tradeoff for Elderly Persons?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Macey, Susan M.

1989-01-01

Examined association between concern for health and adoption of elderly persons of a lowered winter nighttime thermostat setting. Findings from two surveys of elderly respondents (N=232) who maintained separate owner-occupied residences showed that health and thermal comfort were major reasons for nonadoption of this energy conservation measure.…

7 CFR 611.1 - Purpose and scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... AGRICULTURE CONSERVATION OPERATIONS SOIL SURVEYS General § 611.1 Purpose and scope. (a) This part sets forth policy on soil survey operations of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). (b) NRCS is responsible for soil survey activities of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). A soil survey provides...

7 CFR 611.1 - Purpose and scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... AGRICULTURE CONSERVATION OPERATIONS SOIL SURVEYS General § 611.1 Purpose and scope. (a) This part sets forth policy on soil survey operations of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). (b) NRCS is responsible for soil survey activities of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). A soil survey provides...

7 CFR 611.1 - Purpose and scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... AGRICULTURE CONSERVATION OPERATIONS SOIL SURVEYS General § 611.1 Purpose and scope. (a) This part sets forth policy on soil survey operations of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). (b) NRCS is responsible for soil survey activities of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). A soil survey provides...

7 CFR 611.1 - Purpose and scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... AGRICULTURE CONSERVATION OPERATIONS SOIL SURVEYS General § 611.1 Purpose and scope. (a) This part sets forth policy on soil survey operations of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). (b) NRCS is responsible for soil survey activities of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). A soil survey provides...

7 CFR 611.1 - Purpose and scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... AGRICULTURE CONSERVATION OPERATIONS SOIL SURVEYS General § 611.1 Purpose and scope. (a) This part sets forth policy on soil survey operations of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). (b) NRCS is responsible for soil survey activities of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). A soil survey provides...

18 CFR 385.906 - Pleadings (Rule 906).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Pleadings (Rule 906). 385.906 Section 385.906 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION... order admitting or denying each of the Secretary's findings in the contested order and setting forth...

Emergency Response Systems for Outdoor Programming.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Merrill, Kurt; Satz, Jay A.

The Student Conservation Association (SCA) runs backcountry programs in wilderness settings, providing both an educational experience for participants and badly needed conservation work on public lands. As part of its risk management efforts, SCA has developed an emergency response system that ties resources in the field to all the resources of…

18 CFR 807.5 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Definitions. 807.5 Section 807.5 Conservation of Power and Water Resources SUSQUEHANNA RIVER BASIN COMMISSION WATER WITHDRAWAL REGISTRATION § 807.5 Definitions. Terms used in this part shall be defined as set forth in § 806.3...

18 CFR 807.5 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 2 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Definitions. 807.5 Section 807.5 Conservation of Power and Water Resources SUSQUEHANNA RIVER BASIN COMMISSION WATER WITHDRAWAL REGISTRATION § 807.5 Definitions. Terms used in this part shall be defined as set forth in § 806.3...

18 CFR 2.57 - Temporary certificates-pipeline companies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Temporary certificates-pipeline companies. 2.57 Section 2.57 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY.... The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will exercise the emergency powers set forth in the second...

World Saver Center.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kennedy, Theresa; And Others

Conservation is a concern for all cultures, and children are familiar with this concept because of recycling in their homes and home towns. The World Saver Center, an example of the thematic approach to learning, is designed to allow children to experiment with concepts of conservation in a familiar setting. The center, designed to resemble an…

Productivity limits and potentials of the principles of conservation agriculture

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

One of the primary challenges of our time is to feed a growing and more demanding world population with reduced external inputs and minimal environmental impacts, all under more variable and extreme climate conditions of the future. Conservation agriculture (CA) represents a set of three crop manage...

Species-level strategies for conserving rare or little-known species [Chapter 6

Treesearch

Bruce G. Marcot; Curtis H. Flather

2007-01-01

Conservation science is concerned, in part, with anticipating how natural or human-caused disturbance affects the pattern of commonness and rarity among the biota of a given area (Lubchenco et al. 1991; also see chap. 1). In this and the next chapter, we review various species- and system-level approaches proposed or applied to species conservation planning and...

Deaf Children's Judgments on Conservation Problems of Liquid, Matter, Weight and Volume: A Pilot Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rittenhouse, Robert K.

Twenty-four profoundly deaf children (7 to 13 years old) from a residential school were presented with conservation problems of liquid, matter, weight, and volume. Analyses of variance showed that age was significant beyond the .01 level and type of task (conservation) at the .25 level. No significant sex effect was found. Differences among means…

Variation of ecosystem services and human activities: A case study in the Yanhe Watershed of China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, Chang-hong; Fu, Bo-Jie; He, Chan-Sheng; Lü, Yi-He

2012-10-01

The concept of 'ecosystem service' provides cohesive views on mechanisms by which nature contributes to human well-being. Fast social and economic development calls for research on interactions between human and natural systems. We took the Yanhe Watershed as our study area, and valued the variation of ecosystem services and human activities of 2000 and 2008. Five ecosystem services were selected i.e. net primary production (NPP), carbon sequestration and oxygen production (CSOP), water conservation, soil conservation, and grain production. Human activity was represented by a composite human activity index (HAI) that integrates human population density, farmland ratio, influence of residential sites and road network. Analysis results of the five ecosystem services and human activity (HAI) are as follows: (i) NPP, CSOP, water conservation, and soil conservation increased from 2000 to 2008, while grain production declined. HAI decreased from 2000 to 2008. Spatially, NPP, CSOP, and water conservation in 2000 and 2008 roughly demonstrated a pattern of decline from south to north, while grain production shows an endocentric increasing spatial pattern. Soil conservation showed a spatial pattern of high in the south and low in the north in 2000 and a different pattern of high in the west and low in the east in 2008 respectively. HAI is proportional to the administrative level and economic development. Variation of NPP/CSOP between 2000 and 2008 show an increasing spatial pattern from northwest to southeast. In contrast, the variation of soil conservation shows an increasing pattern from southeast to northwest. Variation of water conservation shows a fanning out decreasing pattern. Variation of grain production doesn't show conspicuous spatial pattern. (ii) Variation of water conservation and of soil conservation is significantly positively correlated at 0.01 level. Both variations of water conservation and soil conservation are negatively correlated with variation of HAI at 0.01 level. Variations of NPP/CSOP are negatively correlated with variations of soil conservation and grain production at 0.05 level. (iii) Strong tradeoffs exist between regulation services and provision service, while synergies exist within regulation services. Driving effect of human activities on ecosystem services and tradeoffs and synergies among ecosystem service are also discussed.

Effects of private-land use, livestock management, and human tolerance on diversity, distribution, and abundance of large african mammals.

PubMed

Kinnaird, Margaret F; O'brien, Timothy G

2012-12-01

Successful conservation of large terrestrial mammals (wildlife) on private lands requires that landowners be empowered to manage wildlife so that benefits outweigh the costs. Laikipia County, Kenya, is predominantly unfenced, and the land uses in the area allow wide-ranging wildlife to move freely between different management systems on private land. We used camera traps to sample large mammals associated with 4 different management systems (rhinoceros sanctuaries, no livestock; conservancies, intermediate stocking level; fenced ranches, high stocking level; and group ranches, high stocking level, no fencing, pastoralist clan ownership) to examine whether management and stocking levels affect wildlife. We deployed cameras at 522 locations across 8 properties from January 2008 through October 2010 and used the photographs taken during this period to estimate richness, occupancy, and relative abundance of species. Species richness was highest in conservancies and sanctuaries and lowest on fenced and group ranches. Occupancy estimates were, on average, 2 and 5 times higher in sanctuaries and conservancies as on fenced and group ranches, respectively. Nineteen species on fenced ranches and 25 species on group ranches were considered uncommon (occupancy < 0.1). The relative abundance of most species was highest or second highest in sanctuaries and conservancies. Lack of rights to manage and utilize wildlife and uncertain land tenure dampen many owners' incentives to tolerate wildlife. We suggest national conservation strategies consider landscape-level approaches to land-use planning that aim to increase conserved areas by providing landowners with incentives to tolerate wildlife. Possible incentives include improving access to ecotourism benefits, forging agreements to maintain wildlife habitat and corridors, resolving land-ownership conflicts, restoring degraded rangelands, expanding opportunities for grazing leases, and allowing direct benefits to landowners through wildlife harvesting. . © 2012 Society for Conservation Biology.

Southeast Regional Assessment Project for the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey

USGS Publications Warehouse

Dalton, Melinda S.; Jones, Sonya A.

2010-01-01

The Southeastern United States spans a broad range of physiographic settings and maintains exceptionally high levels of faunal diversity. Unfortunately, many of these ecosystems are increasingly under threat due to rapid human development, and management agencies are increasingly aware of the potential effects that climate change will have on these ecosystems. Natural resource managers and conservation planners can be effective at preserving ecosystems in the face of these stressors only if they can adapt current conservation efforts to increase the overall resilience of the system. Climate change, in particular, challenges many of the basic assumptions used by conservation planners and managers. Previous conservation planning efforts identified and prioritized areas for conservation based on the current environmental conditions, such as habitat quality, and assumed that conditions in conservation lands would be largely controlled by management actions (including no action). Climate change, however, will likely alter important system drivers (temperature, precipitation, and sea-level rise) and make it difficult, if not impossible, to maintain recent historic conditions in conservation lands into the future. Climate change will also influence the future conservation potential of non-conservation lands, further complicating conservation planning. Therefore, there is a need to develop and adapt effective conservation strategies to cope with the effects of climate and landscape change on future environmental conditions. Congress recognized this important issue and authorized the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center (NCCWSC; http://nccw.usgs.gov/) in the Fiscal Year 2008. The NCCWSC will produce science that will help resource management agencies anticipate and adapt to climate change impacts to fish, wildlife, and their habitats. With the release of Secretarial Order 3289 on September 14, 2009, the mandate of the NCCWSC was expanded to address climate change-related impacts on all Department of the Interior (DOI) resources. The NCCWSC will establish a network of eight DOI Regional Climate Science Centers (RCSCs) that will work with a variety of partners to provide natural resource managers with tools and information that will help them anticipate and adapt conservation planning and design for projected climate change. The forecasting products produced by the RCSCs will aid fish, wildlife, and land managers in designing suitable adaptive management approaches for their programs. The DOI also is developing Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) as science and conservation action partnerships at subregional scales. The USGS is working with the Southeast Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to develop science collaboration between the future Southeast RCSC and future LCCs. The NCCWSC Southeast Regional Assessment Project (SERAP) will begin to develop regional downscaled climate models, land cover change models, regional ecological models, regional watershed models, and other science tools. Models and data produced by SERAP will be used in a collaborative process between the USGS, the FWS (LCCs), State and federal partners, nongovernmental organizations, and academia to produce science at appropriate scales to answer resource management questions. The SERAP will produce an assessment of climate change, and impacts on land cover, ecosystems, and priority species in the region. The predictive tools developed by the SERAP project team will allow end users to better understand potential impacts of climate change and sea level rise on terrestrial and aquatic populations in the Southeastern United States. The SERAP capitalizes on the integration of five existing projects: (1) the Multi-State Conservation Grants Program project "Designing Sustainable Landscapes," (2) the USGS multidisciplinary Science Thrust project "Water Availability for Ecological Needs," (3) the USGS Southeast Pilot Project "Climate Change in the Southeastern U.S. and its Impacts on Bird Distributions and Habitats," (4) a sea-level rise impacts study envisioned jointly with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and (5) two USGS sea-level rise impact assessment projects that address inundation hazards and provide probabilistic forecasts of coastal geomorphic change. The SERAP will expand on these existing projects and include the following tasks, which were initiated in summer 2009: * Regionally downscaled probabilistic climate-change projections * Integrated coastal assessment * Integrated terrestrial assessment * Multi-resolution assessment of potential climate change effects on biological resources: aquatic and hydrologic dynamics * Optimal conservation strategies to cope with climate change The SERAP seeks to formally integrate these tasks to aid conservation planning and design so that ecosystem management decisions can be optimized for providing desirable outcomes across a range of species and environments. The following chapters detail SERAP's efforts in providing a suite of regional climate, watershed, and landscape-change analyses and develop the interdisciplinary framework required for the biological planning phases of adaptive management and strategic conservation. The planning phase will include the identification of conservation alternatives, development of predictive models and decision support tools, and development of a template to address similar challenges and goals in other regions. The project teams will explore and develop ways to link the various ecological models arising from each component. The SERAP project team also will work closely with members of the LCCs and other partnerships throughout the life of the project to ensure that the objectives of the project meet resources mangers needs in the Southeast.

Local conservation laws in spin-\\frac{1}{2} XY chains with open boundary conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fagotti, Maurizio

2016-06-01

We revisit the conserved quantities of the spin-\\frac{1}{2} XY model with open boundary conditions. In the absence of a transverse field, we find new families of local charges and show that half of the seeming conservation laws are conserved only if the number of sites is odd. In even chains the set of noninteracting charges is abelian, like in the periodic case when the number of sites is odd. In odd chains the set is doubled and becomes non-abelian, like in even periodic chains. The dependence of the charges on the parity of the chain’s size undermines the common belief that the thermodynamic limit of diagonal ensembles exists. We consider also the transverse-field Ising chain, where the situation is more ordinary. The generalization to the XY model in a transverse field is not straightforward and we propose a general framework to carry out similar calculations. We conjecture the form of the bulk part of the local charges and discuss the emergence of quasilocal conserved quantities. We provide evidence that in a region of the parameter space there is a reduction of the number of quasilocal conservation laws invariant under chain inversion. As a by-product, we study a class of block-Toeplitz-plus-Hankel operators and identify the conditions that their symbols satisfy in order to commute with a given block-Toeplitz.

Conserved water molecules in bacterial serine hydroxymethyltransferases.

PubMed

Milano, Teresa; Di Salvo, Martino Luigi; Angelaccio, Sebastiana; Pascarella, Stefano

2015-10-01

Water molecules occurring in the interior of protein structures often are endowed with key structural and functional roles. We report the results of a systematic analysis of conserved water molecules in bacterial serine hydroxymethyltransferases (SHMTs). SHMTs are an important group of pyridoxal-5'-phosphate-dependent enzymes that catalyze the reversible conversion of l-serine and tetrahydropteroylglutamate to glycine and 5,10-methylenetetrahydropteroylglutamate. The approach utilized in this study relies on two programs, ProACT2 and WatCH. The first software is able to categorize water molecules in a protein crystallographic structure as buried, positioned in clefts or at the surface. The other program finds, in a set of superposed homologous proteins, water molecules that occur approximately in equivalent position in each of the considered structures. These groups of molecules are referred to as 'clusters' and represent structurally conserved water molecules. Several conserved clusters of buried or cleft water molecules were found in the set of 11 bacterial SHMTs we took into account for this work. The majority of these clusters were not described previously. Possible structural and functional roles for the conserved water molecules are envisaged. This work provides a map of the conserved water molecules helpful for deciphering SHMT mechanism and for rational design of molecular engineering experiments. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Evaluating integrated watershed management using multiple criteria analysis--a case study at Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh.

PubMed

Biswas, Shampa; Vacik, Harald; Swanson, Mark E; Haque, S M Sirajul

2012-05-01

Criteria and indicators assessment is one of the ways to evaluate management strategies for mountain watersheds. One framework for this, Integrated Watershed Management (IWM), was employed at Chittagong Hill Tracts region of Bangladesh using a multi-criteria analysis approach. The IWM framework, consisting of the design and application of principles, criteria, indicators, and verifiers (PCIV), facilitates active participation by diverse professionals, experts, and interest groups in watershed management, to explicitly address the demands and problems to measure the complexity of problems in a transparent and understandable way. Management alternatives are developed to fulfill every key component of IWM considering the developed PCIV set and current situation of the study area. Different management strategies, each focusing on a different approach (biodiversity conservation, flood control, soil and water quality conservation, indigenous knowledge conservation, income generation, watershed conservation, and landscape conservation) were assessed qualitatively on their potential to improve the current situation according to each verifier of the criteria and indicator set. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), including sensitivity analysis, was employed to identify an appropriate management strategy according to overall priorities (i.e., different weights of each principle) of key informants. The AHP process indicated that a strategy focused on conservation of biodiversity provided the best option to address watershed-related challenges in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh.

Confronting dynamics and uncertainty in optimal decision making for conservation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Williams, Byron K.; Johnson, Fred A.

2013-01-01

The effectiveness of conservation efforts ultimately depends on the recognition that decision making, and the systems that it is designed to affect, are inherently dynamic and characterized by multiple sources of uncertainty. To cope with these challenges, conservation planners are increasingly turning to the tools of decision analysis, especially dynamic optimization methods. Here we provide a general framework for optimal, dynamic conservation and then explore its capacity for coping with various sources and degrees of uncertainty. In broadest terms, the dynamic optimization problem in conservation is choosing among a set of decision options at periodic intervals so as to maximize some conservation objective over the planning horizon. Planners must account for immediate objective returns, as well as the effect of current decisions on future resource conditions and, thus, on future decisions. Undermining the effectiveness of such a planning process are uncertainties concerning extant resource conditions (partial observability), the immediate consequences of decision choices (partial controllability), the outcomes of uncontrolled, environmental drivers (environmental variation), and the processes structuring resource dynamics (structural uncertainty). Where outcomes from these sources of uncertainty can be described in terms of probability distributions, a focus on maximizing the expected objective return, while taking state-specific actions, is an effective mechanism for coping with uncertainty. When such probability distributions are unavailable or deemed unreliable, a focus on maximizing robustness is likely to be the preferred approach. Here the idea is to choose an action (or state-dependent policy) that achieves at least some minimum level of performance regardless of the (uncertain) outcomes. We provide some examples of how the dynamic optimization problem can be framed for problems involving management of habitat for an imperiled species, conservation of a critically endangered population through captive breeding, control of invasive species, construction of biodiversity reserves, design of landscapes to increase habitat connectivity, and resource exploitation. Although these decision making problems and their solutions present significant challenges, we suggest that a systematic and effective approach to dynamic decision making in conservation need not be an onerous undertaking. The requirements are shared with any systematic approach to decision making--a careful consideration of values, actions, and outcomes.

Confronting dynamics and uncertainty in optimal decision making for conservation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, Byron K.; Johnson, Fred A.

2013-06-01

The effectiveness of conservation efforts ultimately depends on the recognition that decision making, and the systems that it is designed to affect, are inherently dynamic and characterized by multiple sources of uncertainty. To cope with these challenges, conservation planners are increasingly turning to the tools of decision analysis, especially dynamic optimization methods. Here we provide a general framework for optimal, dynamic conservation and then explore its capacity for coping with various sources and degrees of uncertainty. In broadest terms, the dynamic optimization problem in conservation is choosing among a set of decision options at periodic intervals so as to maximize some conservation objective over the planning horizon. Planners must account for immediate objective returns, as well as the effect of current decisions on future resource conditions and, thus, on future decisions. Undermining the effectiveness of such a planning process are uncertainties concerning extant resource conditions (partial observability), the immediate consequences of decision choices (partial controllability), the outcomes of uncontrolled, environmental drivers (environmental variation), and the processes structuring resource dynamics (structural uncertainty). Where outcomes from these sources of uncertainty can be described in terms of probability distributions, a focus on maximizing the expected objective return, while taking state-specific actions, is an effective mechanism for coping with uncertainty. When such probability distributions are unavailable or deemed unreliable, a focus on maximizing robustness is likely to be the preferred approach. Here the idea is to choose an action (or state-dependent policy) that achieves at least some minimum level of performance regardless of the (uncertain) outcomes. We provide some examples of how the dynamic optimization problem can be framed for problems involving management of habitat for an imperiled species, conservation of a critically endangered population through captive breeding, control of invasive species, construction of biodiversity reserves, design of landscapes to increase habitat connectivity, and resource exploitation. Although these decision making problems and their solutions present significant challenges, we suggest that a systematic and effective approach to dynamic decision making in conservation need not be an onerous undertaking. The requirements are shared with any systematic approach to decision making—a careful consideration of values, actions, and outcomes.

Conserved miRNAs Are Candidate Post-Transcriptional Regulators of Developmental Arrest in Free-Living and Parasitic Nematodes

PubMed Central

Ahmed, Rina; Chang, Zisong; Younis, Abuelhassan Elshazly; Langnick, Claudia; Li, Na; Chen, Wei; Brattig, Norbert; Dieterich, Christoph

2013-01-01

Animal development is complex yet surprisingly robust. Animals may develop alternative phenotypes conditional on environmental changes. Under unfavorable conditions, Caenorhabditis elegans larvae enter the dauer stage, a developmentally arrested, long-lived, and stress-resistant state. Dauer larvae of free-living nematodes and infective larvae of parasitic nematodes share many traits including a conserved endocrine signaling module (DA/DAF-12), which is essential for the formation of dauer and infective larvae. We speculated that conserved post-transcriptional regulatory mechanism might also be involved in executing the dauer and infective larvae fate. We used an unbiased sequencing strategy to characterize the microRNA (miRNA) gene complement in C. elegans, Pristionchus pacificus, and Strongyloides ratti. Our study raised the number of described miRNA genes to 257 for C. elegans, tripled the known gene set for P. pacificus to 362 miRNAs, and is the first to describe miRNAs in a Strongyloides parasite. Moreover, we found a limited core set of 24 conserved miRNA families in all three species. Interestingly, our estimated expression fold changes between dauer versus nondauer stages and infective larvae versus free-living stages reveal that despite the speed of miRNA gene set evolution in nematodes, homologous gene families with conserved “dauer-infective” expression signatures are present. These findings suggest that common post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms are at work and that the same miRNA families play important roles in developmental arrest and long-term survival in free-living and parasitic nematodes. PMID:23729632

Characterization of background concentrations of contaminants using a mixture of normal distributions.

PubMed

Qian, Song S; Lyons, Regan E

2006-10-01

We present a Bayesian approach for characterizing background contaminant concentration distributions using data from sites that may have been contaminated. Our method, focused on estimation, resolves several technical problems of the existing methods sanctioned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) (a hypothesis testing based method), resulting in a simple and quick procedure for estimating background contaminant concentrations. The proposed Bayesian method is applied to two data sets from a federal facility regulated under the Resource Conservation and Restoration Act. The results are compared to background distributions identified using existing methods recommended by the USEPA. The two data sets represent low and moderate levels of censorship in the data. Although an unbiased estimator is elusive, we show that the proposed Bayesian estimation method will have a smaller bias than the EPA recommended method.

Indication criteria for total hip or knee arthroplasty in osteoarthritis: a state-of-the-science overview.

PubMed

Gademan, Maaike G J; Hofstede, Stefanie N; Vliet Vlieland, Thea P M; Nelissen, Rob G H H; Marang-van de Mheen, Perla J

2016-11-09

This systematic review gives an overview of guidelines and original publications as well as the evidence on which the currently proposed indication criteria are based. Until now such a state-of-the-science overview was lacking. Websites of orthopaedic and arthritis organizations (English/Dutch language) were independently searched by two authors for THA/TKA guidelines for OA. Furthermore, a systematic search strategy in several databases through August 2014 was performed. Quality of the guidelines was assessed with the AGREE II instrument, which consists of 6 domains (maximum summed score of 6 indicating high quality). Also, the level of evidence of all included studies was assessed. We found 6 guidelines and 18 papers, out of 3065 references. The quality of the guidelines summed across 6 domains ranged from 0.46 to 4.78. In total, 12 THA, 10 TKA and 2 THA/TKA indication sets were found. Four studies stated that no evidence-based indication criteria are available. Indication criteria concerning THA/TKA consisted of the following domains: pain (in respectively 11 and 10 sets), function (12 and 7 sets), radiological changes (10 and 9 sets), failed conservative therapy (8 and 4 sets) and other indications (6 and 7 sets). Specific cut-off values or ranges were often not stated and the level of evidence was low. The indication criteria for THA/TKA are based on limited evidence. Empirical research is needed, especially regarding domain specific cut-off values or ranges at which the best postoperative outcomes are achieved for patients, taking into account the limited lifespan of a prosthesis.

Descriptive study of important energy-conservation content for industrial arts in North Carolina and potential constraints to implementation of the content

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Johnson, C.D.

The purpose of this study was to determine the important energy-conservation content for industrial arts in North Carolina. The continuing purpose was to identify constraints to implementation of the identified important content. Fifty-three energy-conservation-content items were identified from the literature. This content was rated on importance by seven industrial arts/energy-conservation specialists in North Carolina. An analysis of the specialists scores resulted in the identification of the 20 most important energy-conservation-content items for industrial arts in North Carolina. Identification of possible constraints to the implementation of the important content was accomplished by surveying the certified industrial arts teachers in North Carolina.more » On the survey, teachers rated each content item in relation to their instructional practices, knowledge level, and perception of content appropriateness. Almost 67% of the industrial arts teachers in North Carolina responded to the survey. The study revealed that overall, industrial arts teachers believed energy conservation was moderately to highly appropriate for industrial arts. Knowledge of energy conservation was at a comparatively lower level, and was considered a possible constraint to content implementation. Although energy-conservation instructional practices were at a low level, 88% of the teachers in the survey sample included at least one of the energy-conservation-content items in their curriculum.« less

Optimal portfolio design to reduce climate-related conservation uncertainty in the Prairie Pothole Region.

PubMed

Ando, Amy W; Mallory, Mindy L

2012-04-24

Climate change is likely to alter the spatial distributions of species and habitat types but the nature of such change is uncertain. Thus, climate change makes it difficult to implement standard conservation planning paradigms. Previous work has suggested some approaches to cope with such uncertainty but has not harnessed all of the benefits of risk diversification. We adapt Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) to optimal spatial targeting of conservation activity, using wetland habitat conservation in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) as an example. This approach finds the allocations of conservation activity among subregions of the planning area that maximize the expected conservation returns for a given level of uncertainty or minimize uncertainty for a given expected level of returns. We find that using MPT instead of simple diversification in the PPR can achieve a value of the conservation objective per dollar spent that is 15% higher for the same level of risk. MPT-based portfolios can also have 21% less uncertainty over benefits or 6% greater expected benefits than the current portfolio of PPR conservation. Total benefits from conservation investment are higher if returns are defined in terms of benefit-cost ratios rather than benefits alone. MPT-guided diversification can work to reduce the climate-change-induced uncertainty of future ecosystem-service benefits from many land policy and investment initiatives, especially when outcomes are negatively correlated between subregions of a planning area.

Optimal portfolio design to reduce climate-related conservation uncertainty in the Prairie Pothole Region

PubMed Central

Ando, Amy W.; Mallory, Mindy L.

2012-01-01

Climate change is likely to alter the spatial distributions of species and habitat types but the nature of such change is uncertain. Thus, climate change makes it difficult to implement standard conservation planning paradigms. Previous work has suggested some approaches to cope with such uncertainty but has not harnessed all of the benefits of risk diversification. We adapt Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) to optimal spatial targeting of conservation activity, using wetland habitat conservation in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) as an example. This approach finds the allocations of conservation activity among subregions of the planning area that maximize the expected conservation returns for a given level of uncertainty or minimize uncertainty for a given expected level of returns. We find that using MPT instead of simple diversification in the PPR can achieve a value of the conservation objective per dollar spent that is 15% higher for the same level of risk. MPT-based portfolios can also have 21% less uncertainty over benefits or 6% greater expected benefits than the current portfolio of PPR conservation. Total benefits from conservation investment are higher if returns are defined in terms of benefit–cost ratios rather than benefits alone. MPT-guided diversification can work to reduce the climate-change–induced uncertainty of future ecosystem-service benefits from many land policy and investment initiatives, especially when outcomes are negatively correlated between subregions of a planning area. PMID:22451914

Effects of Community-Based Natural Resource Management on Household Welfare in Namibia

PubMed Central

Riehl, Brianne; Zerriffi, Hisham; Naidoo, Robin

2015-01-01

Biodiversity conservation, as an environmental goal, is increasingly recognized to be connected to the socioeconomic well-being of local communities. The development of a widespread community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) program in Namibia makes it an ideal location to analyze the connection between conservation and socioeconomic well-being of local communities. Namibia’s CBNRM program involves the formation of communal conservancies within rural communities and previous studies have found it to be successful on both ecological and economic fronts. In order to broaden the understanding of the program’s impact to include social factors, we have conducted a comparative analysis to determine the effects of this program on household welfare outcomes. Data from two rounds of the Namibia Demographic and Health Surveys (2000 and 2006/07) and quasi-experimental statistical methods were used to evaluate changes in various health, education and wealth outcomes of those living in conservancies, relative to non-conservancy comparison groups. Regression results indicate mixed effects of the conservancy program at the household level. The program had positive effects on some health outcome variables, including bednet ownership, which was twice as likely to increase over time in conservancy compared to non-conservancy households. Program impacts were negative for education outcomes, with the proportion of school attendance of conservancy children being 45% less likely to increase over time than non-conservancy children. Wealth outcome results were inconclusive. Our findings highlight the importance of analyzing community conservation programs at a variety of scales when evaluating overall impact, as community-level benefits may not necessarily extend down to the household level (and vice versa). PMID:25965379

The push and pull of land use policy: reconstructing 150 years of development and conservation land acquisition.

PubMed

Santos, Maria João; Watt, Terry; Pincetl, Stephanie

2014-01-01

The growth of human populations and their resource needs have stressed the conservation of natural land resources. Many policies and programs have been implemented to address the pressures on land resources and notwithstanding this pressure, significant acquisition of land for conservation has occurred throughout history in the U.S., and internationally. Here we assess the on-the-ground result of the evolution of land use policies in California as a pioneer forerunner, in the form of acquisition of land for conservation (i.e. Open Space), and its impact on the rest of the U.S. and beyond. To this end we describe the timeline and spatial representation of the growth of California's conservation network over the last 150 years, and link it to the history of land use policies. We then assess whether conservation land acquisition has consistently grown through time or occurred in specific decades. About ¼ of the state is now designated Open Space. Fewer and larger areas conserved and acquired at the beginning of the 20th century; the conservation network was complemented with a larger number of smaller sized properties. Despite acquisition of land in every decade, the process was uneven (E = 0.3 for California, E = 0.14 ± 0.08 average for the state's counties), mostly due to the large acquisitions and land set asides in the 1900s, followed by 1930s and 1940s. This process was a result of a comprehensive set of legislation that evolved through time, and resulted from the competing needs for development and conservation. Even with the impressive 174,000 km2 of public lands in California, the future of California's natural infrastructure and natural heritage cannot rely solely on these public lands, nor public agencies and their resources. Critically a future course of land preservation relying on the purchase of new lands - in California and beyond - for conservation is tremendously expensive.

Unravelling the structure of species extinction risk for predictive conservation science.

PubMed

Lee, Tien Ming; Jetz, Walter

2011-05-07

Extinction risk varies across species and space owing to the combined and interactive effects of ecology/life history and geography. For predictive conservation science to be effective, large datasets and integrative models that quantify the relative importance of potential factors and separate rapidly changing from relatively static threat drivers are urgently required. Here, we integrate and map in space the relative and joint effects of key correlates of The International Union for Conservation of Nature-assessed extinction risk for 8700 living birds. Extinction risk varies significantly with species' broad-scale environmental niche, geographical range size, and life-history and ecological traits such as body size, developmental mode, primary diet and foraging height. Even at this broad scale, simple quantifications of past human encroachment across species' ranges emerge as key in predicting extinction risk, supporting the use of land-cover change projections for estimating future threat in an integrative setting. A final joint model explains much of the interspecific variation in extinction risk and provides a remarkably strong prediction of its observed global geography. Our approach unravels the species-level structure underlying geographical gradients in extinction risk and offers a means of disentangling static from changing components of current and future threat. This reconciliation of intrinsic and extrinsic, and of past and future extinction risk factors may offer a critical step towards a more continuous, forward-looking assessment of species' threat status based on geographically explicit environmental change projections, potentially advancing global predictive conservation science.

Elemental conservation units: communicating extinction risk without dictating targets for protection.

PubMed

Wood, Chris C; Gross, Mart R

2008-02-01

Conservation biologists mostly agree on the need to identify and protect biodiversity below the species level but have not yet resolved the best approach. We addressed 2 issues relevant to this debate. First, we distinguished between the abstract goal of preserving the maximum amount of unique biodiversity and the pragmatic goal of minimizing the loss of ecological goods and services given that further loss of biodiversity seems inevitable. Second, we distinguished between the scientific task of assessing extinction risk and the normative task of choosing targets for protection. We propose that scientific advice on extinction risk be given at the smallest meaningful scale: the elemental conservation unit (ECU). An ECU is a demographically isolated population whose probability of extinction over the time scale of interest (say 100 years) is not substantially affected by natural immigration from other populations. Within this time frame, the loss of an ECU would be irreversible without human intervention. Society's decision to protect an ECU ought to reflect human values that have social, economic, and political dimensions. Scientists can best inform this decision by providing advice about the probability that an ECU will be lost and the ecological and evolutionary consequences of that loss in a form that can be integrated into landscape planning. The ECU approach provides maximum flexibility to decision makers and ensures that the scientific task of assessing extinction risk informs, but remains distinct from, the normative social challenge of setting conservation targets.

Comparative Mitogenomics of the Assassin Bug Genus Peirates (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Peiratinae) Reveal Conserved Mitochondrial Genome Organization of P. atromaculatus, P. fulvescens and P. turpis

PubMed Central

Zhao, Guangyu; Li, Hu; Zhao, Ping; Cai, Wanzhi

2015-01-01

In this study, we sequenced four new mitochondrial genomes and presented comparative mitogenomic analyses of five species in the genus Peirates (Hemiptera: Reduviidae). Mitochondrial genomes of these five assassin bugs had a typical set of 37 genes and retained the ancestral gene arrangement of insects. The A+T content, AT- and GC-skews were similar to the common base composition biases of insect mtDNA. Genomic size ranges from 15,702 bp to 16,314 bp and most of the size variation was due to length and copy number of the repeat unit in the putative control region. All of the control region sequences included large tandem repeats present in two or more copies. Our result revealed similarity in mitochondrial genomes of P. atromaculatus, P. fulvescens and P. turpis, as well as the highly conserved genomic-level characteristics of these three species, e.g., the same start and stop codons of protein-coding genes, conserved secondary structure of tRNAs, identical location and length of non-coding and overlapping regions, and conservation of structural elements and tandem repeat unit in control region. Phylogenetic analyses also supported a close relationship between P. atromaculatus, P. fulvescens and P. turpis, which might be recently diverged species. The present study indicates that mitochondrial genome has important implications on phylogenetics, population genetics and speciation in the genus Peirates. PMID:25689825

Well-balanced Arbitrary-Lagrangian-Eulerian finite volume schemes on moving nonconforming meshes for the Euler equations of gas dynamics with gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaburro, Elena; Castro, Manuel J.; Dumbser, Michael

2018-06-01

In this work, we present a novel second-order accurate well-balanced arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) finite volume scheme on moving nonconforming meshes for the Euler equations of compressible gas dynamics with gravity in cylindrical coordinates. The main feature of the proposed algorithm is the capability of preserving many of the physical properties of the system exactly also on the discrete level: besides being conservative for mass, momentum and total energy, also any known steady equilibrium between pressure gradient, centrifugal force, and gravity force can be exactly maintained up to machine precision. Perturbations around such equilibrium solutions are resolved with high accuracy and with minimal dissipation on moving contact discontinuities even for very long computational times. This is achieved by the novel combination of well-balanced path-conservative finite volume schemes, which are expressly designed to deal with source terms written via non-conservative products, with ALE schemes on moving grids, which exhibit only very little numerical dissipation on moving contact waves. In particular, we have formulated a new HLL-type and a novel Osher-type flux that are both able to guarantee the well balancing in a gas cloud rotating around a central object. Moreover, to maintain a high level of quality of the moving mesh, we have adopted a nonconforming treatment of the sliding interfaces that appear due to the differential rotation. A large set of numerical tests has been carried out in order to check the accuracy of the method close and far away from the equilibrium, both, in one- and two-space dimensions.

Natural and Anthropogenic Hybridization in Two Species of Eastern Brazilian Marmosets (Callithrix jacchus and C. penicillata)

PubMed Central

Malukiewicz, Joanna; Boere, Vanner; Fuzessy, Lisieux F.; Grativol, Adriana D.; de Oliveira e Silva, Ita; Pereira, Luiz C. M.; Ruiz-Miranda, Carlos R.; Valença, Yuri M.; Stone, Anne C.

2015-01-01

Animal hybridization is well documented, but evolutionary outcomes and conservation priorities often differ for natural and anthropogenic hybrids. Among primates, an order with many endangered species, the two contexts can be hard to disentangle from one another, which carries important conservation implications. Callithrix marmosets give us a unique glimpse of genetic hybridization effects under distinct natural and human-induced contexts. Here, we use a 44 autosomal microsatellite marker panel to examine genome-wide admixture levels and introgression at a natural C. jacchus and C. penicillata species border along the São Francisco River in NE Brazil and in an area of Rio de Janeiro state where humans introduced these species exotically. Additionally, we describe for the first time autosomal genetic diversity in wild C. penicillata and expand previous C. jacchus genetic data. We characterize admixture within the natural zone as bimodal where hybrid ancestry is biased toward one parental species or the other. We also show evidence that São Francisco River islands are gateways for bidirectional gene flow across the species border. In the anthropogenic zone, marmosets essentially form a hybrid swarm with intermediate levels of admixture, likely from the absence of strong physical barriers to interspecific breeding. Our data show that while hybridization can occur naturally, the presence of physical, even if leaky, barriers to hybridization is important for maintaining species genetic integrity. Thus, we suggest further study of hybridization under different contexts to set well informed conservation guidelines for hybrid populations that often fit somewhere between “natural” and “man-made.” PMID:26061111

Genetic analysis of Apuleia leiocarpa as revealed by random amplified polymorphic DNA markers: prospects for population genetic studies.

PubMed

Lencina, K H; Konzen, E R; Tsai, S M; Bisognin, D A

2016-12-19

Apuleia leiocarpa (Vogel) J.F. MacBride is a hardwood species native to South America, which is at serious risk of extinction. Therefore, it is of prime importance to examine the genetic diversity of this species, information required for developing conservation, sustainable management, and breeding strategies. Although scarcely used in recent years, random amplified polymorphic DNA markers are useful resources for the analysis of genetic diversity and structure of tree species. This study represents the first genetic analysis based on DNA markers in A. leiocarpa that aimed to investigate the levels of polymorphism and to select markers for the precise characterization of its genetic structure. We adapted the original DNA extraction protocol based on cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide, and describe a simple procedure that can be used to obtain high-quality samples from leaf tissues of this tree. Eighteen primers were selected, revealing 92 bands, from which 75 were polymorphic and 61 were sufficient to represent the overall genetic structure of the population without compromising the precision of the analysis. Some fragments were conserved among individuals, which can be sequenced and used to analyze nucleotide diversity parameters through a wider set of A. leiocarpa individuals and populations. The individuals were separated into 11 distinct groups with variable levels of genetic diversity, which is important for selecting desirable genotypes and for the development of a conservation and sustainable management program. Our results are of prime importance for further investigations concerning the genetic characterization of this important, but vulnerable species.

Conserving the Greater Sage-grouse: A social-ecological systems case study from the California-Nevada region

USGS Publications Warehouse

Duvall, Alison L; Metcalf, Alexander L.; Coates, Peter S.

2016-01-01

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) continues to serve as one of the most powerful and contested federal legislative mandates for conservation. In the midst of heated debates, researchers, policy makers, and conservation practitioners champion the importance of cooperative conservation and social-ecological systems approaches, which forge partnerships at multiple levels and scales to address complex ecosystem challenges. However, few real-world examples exist to demonstrate how multifaceted collaborations among stakeholders who share a common goal of conserving at-risk species may be nested within a systems framework to achieve social and ecological goals. Here, we present a case study of Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) conservation efforts in the “Bi-State” region of California and Nevada, United States. Using key-informant interviews, we explored dimensions and drivers of this landscape-scale conservation effort. Three themes emerged from the interviews, including 1) ESA action was transformed into opportunity for system-wide conservation; 2) a diverse, locally based partnership anchored collaboration and engagement across multiple levels and scales; and 3) best-available science combined with local knowledge led to “certainty of effectiveness and implementation”—the criteria used by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to evaluate conservation efforts when making listing decisions. Ultimately, collaborative conservation through multistakeholder engagement at various levels and scales led to proactive planning and implementation of conservation measures and precluded the need for an ESA listing of the Bi-State population of Greater Sage-grouse. This article presents a potent example of how a systems approach integrating policy, management, and learning can be used to successfully overcome the conflict-laden and “wicked” challenges that surround at-risk species conservation.

Conservation conflicts across Africa.

PubMed

Balmford, A; Moore, J L; Brooks, T; Burgess, N; Hansen, L A; Williams, P; Rahbek, C

2001-03-30

There is increasing evidence that areas of outstanding conservation importance may coincide with dense human settlement or impact. We tested the generality of these findings using 1 degree-resolution data for sub-Saharan Africa. We find that human population density is positively correlated with species richness of birds, mammals, snakes, and amphibians. This association holds for widespread, narrowly endemic, and threatened species and looks set to persist in the face of foreseeable population growth. Our results contradict earlier expectations of low conflict based on the idea that species richness decreases and human impact increases with primary productivity. We find that across Africa, both variables instead exhibit unimodal relationships with productivity. Modifying priority-setting to take account of human density shows that, at this scale, conflicts between conservation and development are not easily avoided, because many densely inhabited grid cells contain species found nowhere else.

Landowner behavior can determine the success of conservation strategies for ecosystem migration under sea-level rise.

PubMed

Field, Christopher R; Dayer, Ashley A; Elphick, Chris S

2017-08-22

The human aspects of conservation are often overlooked but will be critical for identifying strategies for biological conservation in the face of climate change. We surveyed the behavioral intentions of coastal landowners with respect to various conservation strategies aimed at facilitating ecosystem migration for tidal marshes. We found that several popular strategies, including conservation easements and increasing awareness of ecosystem services, may not interest enough landowners to allow marsh migration at the spatial scales needed to mitigate losses from sea-level rise. We identified less common conservation strategies that have more support but that are unproven in practice and may be more expensive. Our results show that failure to incorporate human dimensions into ecosystem modeling and conservation planning could lead to the use of ineffective strategies and an overly optimistic view of the potential for ecosystem migration into human dominated areas.

Landowner behavior can determine the success of conservation strategies for ecosystem migration under sea-level rise

PubMed Central

Field, Christopher R.; Dayer, Ashley A.; Elphick, Chris S.

2017-01-01

The human aspects of conservation are often overlooked but will be critical for identifying strategies for biological conservation in the face of climate change. We surveyed the behavioral intentions of coastal landowners with respect to various conservation strategies aimed at facilitating ecosystem migration for tidal marshes. We found that several popular strategies, including conservation easements and increasing awareness of ecosystem services, may not interest enough landowners to allow marsh migration at the spatial scales needed to mitigate losses from sea-level rise. We identified less common conservation strategies that have more support but that are unproven in practice and may be more expensive. Our results show that failure to incorporate human dimensions into ecosystem modeling and conservation planning could lead to the use of ineffective strategies and an overly optimistic view of the potential for ecosystem migration into human dominated areas. PMID:28790190

78 FR 23335 - Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Distribution Transformers

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-04-18

... Basic Impulse Level 4. Dual/Multiple-Voltage Primary Windings 5. Dual/Multiple-Voltage Secondary Windings 6. Loading B. Technological Feasibility 1. General 2. Maximum Technologically Feasible Levels C...

Protected Areas in Tropical Africa: Assessing Threats and Conservation Activities

PubMed Central

Tranquilli, Sandra; Abedi-Lartey, Michael; Abernethy, Katharine; Amsini, Fidèle; Asamoah, Augustus; Balangtaa, Cletus; Blake, Stephen; Bouanga, Estelle; Breuer, Thomas; Brncic, Terry M.; Campbell, Geneviève; Chancellor, Rebecca; Chapman, Colin A.; Davenport, Tim R. B.; Dunn, Andrew; Dupain, Jef; Ekobo, Atanga; Eno-Nku, Manasseh; Etoga, Gilles; Furuichi, Takeshi; Gatti, Sylvain; Ghiurghi, Andrea; Hashimoto, Chie; Hart, John A.; Head, Josephine; Hega, Martin; Herbinger, Ilka; Hicks, Thurston C.; Holbech, Lars H.; Huijbregts, Bas; Kühl, Hjalmar S.; Imong, Inaoyom; Yeno, Stephane Le-Duc; Linder, Joshua; Marshall, Phil; Lero, Peter Minasoma; Morgan, David; Mubalama, Leonard; N'Goran, Paul K.; Nicholas, Aaron; Nixon, Stuart; Normand, Emmanuelle; Nziguyimpa, Leonidas; Nzooh-Dongmo, Zacharie; Ofori-Amanfo, Richard; Ogunjemite, Babafemi G.; Petre, Charles-Albert; Rainey, Hugo J.; Regnaut, Sebastien; Robinson, Orume; Rundus, Aaron; Sanz, Crickette M.; Okon, David Tiku; Todd, Angelique; Warren, Ymke; Sommer, Volker

2014-01-01

Numerous protected areas (PAs) have been created in Africa to safeguard wildlife and other natural resources. However, significant threats from anthropogenic activities and decline of wildlife populations persist, while conservation efforts in most PAs are still minimal. We assessed the impact level of the most common threats to wildlife within PAs in tropical Africa and the relationship of conservation activities with threat impact level. We collated data on 98 PAs with tropical forest cover from 15 countries across West, Central and East Africa. For this, we assembled information about local threats as well as conservation activities from published and unpublished literature, and questionnaires sent to long-term field workers. We constructed general linear models to test the significance of specific conservation activities in relation to the threat impact level. Subsistence and commercial hunting were identified as the most common direct threats to wildlife and found to be most prevalent in West and Central Africa. Agriculture and logging represented the most common indirect threats, and were most prevalent in West Africa. We found that the long-term presence of conservation activities (such as law enforcement, research and tourism) was associated with lower threat impact levels. Our results highlight deficiencies in the management effectiveness of several PAs across tropical Africa, and conclude that PA management should invest more into conservation activities with long-term duration. PMID:25469888

Protected areas in tropical Africa: assessing threats and conservation activities.

PubMed

Tranquilli, Sandra; Abedi-Lartey, Michael; Abernethy, Katharine; Amsini, Fidèle; Asamoah, Augustus; Balangtaa, Cletus; Blake, Stephen; Bouanga, Estelle; Breuer, Thomas; Brncic, Terry M; Campbell, Geneviève; Chancellor, Rebecca; Chapman, Colin A; Davenport, Tim R B; Dunn, Andrew; Dupain, Jef; Ekobo, Atanga; Eno-Nku, Manasseh; Etoga, Gilles; Furuichi, Takeshi; Gatti, Sylvain; Ghiurghi, Andrea; Hashimoto, Chie; Hart, John A; Head, Josephine; Hega, Martin; Herbinger, Ilka; Hicks, Thurston C; Holbech, Lars H; Huijbregts, Bas; Kühl, Hjalmar S; Imong, Inaoyom; Yeno, Stephane Le-Duc; Linder, Joshua; Marshall, Phil; Lero, Peter Minasoma; Morgan, David; Mubalama, Leonard; N'Goran, Paul K; Nicholas, Aaron; Nixon, Stuart; Normand, Emmanuelle; Nziguyimpa, Leonidas; Nzooh-Dongmo, Zacharie; Ofori-Amanfo, Richard; Ogunjemite, Babafemi G; Petre, Charles-Albert; Rainey, Hugo J; Regnaut, Sebastien; Robinson, Orume; Rundus, Aaron; Sanz, Crickette M; Okon, David Tiku; Todd, Angelique; Warren, Ymke; Sommer, Volker

2014-01-01

Numerous protected areas (PAs) have been created in Africa to safeguard wildlife and other natural resources. However, significant threats from anthropogenic activities and decline of wildlife populations persist, while conservation efforts in most PAs are still minimal. We assessed the impact level of the most common threats to wildlife within PAs in tropical Africa and the relationship of conservation activities with threat impact level. We collated data on 98 PAs with tropical forest cover from 15 countries across West, Central and East Africa. For this, we assembled information about local threats as well as conservation activities from published and unpublished literature, and questionnaires sent to long-term field workers. We constructed general linear models to test the significance of specific conservation activities in relation to the threat impact level. Subsistence and commercial hunting were identified as the most common direct threats to wildlife and found to be most prevalent in West and Central Africa. Agriculture and logging represented the most common indirect threats, and were most prevalent in West Africa. We found that the long-term presence of conservation activities (such as law enforcement, research and tourism) was associated with lower threat impact levels. Our results highlight deficiencies in the management effectiveness of several PAs across tropical Africa, and conclude that PA management should invest more into conservation activities with long-term duration.

Wildlife connectivity approaches and best practices in U.S. state wildlife action plans

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lacher, Iara; Wilkerson, Marit L.

2014-01-01

As habitat loss and fragmentation threaten biodiversity on large geographic scales, creating and maintaining connectivity of wildlife populations is an increasingly common conservation objective. To assess the progress and success of large-scale connectivity planning, conservation researchers need a set of plans that cover large geographic areas and can be analyzed as a single data set. The state wildlife action plans (SWAPs) fulfill these requirements. We examined 50 SWAPs to determine the extent to which wildlife connectivity planning, via linkages, is emphasized nationally. We defined linkage as connective land that enables wildlife movement. For our content analysis, we identified and quantified 6 keywords and 7 content criteria that ranged in specificity and were related to linkages for wide-ranging terrestrial vertebrates and examined relations between content criteria and statewide data on focal wide-ranging species, spending, revenue, and conserved land. Our results reflect nationwide disparities in linkage conservation priorities and highlight the continued need for wildlife linkage planning. Only 30% or less of the 50 SWAPs fulfilled highly specific content criteria (e.g., identifying geographic areas for linkage placement or management). We found positive correlations between our content criteria and statewide data on percent conserved land, total focal species, and spending on parks and recreation. We supplemented our content analysis with interviews with 17 conservation professionals to gain specific information about state-specific context and future directions of linkage conservation. Based on our results, relevant literature, and interview responses, we suggest the following best practices for wildlife linkage conservation plans: collect ecologically meaningful background data; be specific; establish community-wide partnerships; and incorporate sociopolitical and socioeconomic information.

Managing biological diversity

USGS Publications Warehouse

Samson, Fred B.; Knopf, Fritz L.

1993-01-01

Biological diversity is the variety of life and accompanying ecological processes (Off. Technol. Assess. 1987, Wilcove and Samson 1987, Keystone 1991). Conservation of biological diversity is a major environmental issue (Wilson 1988, Counc. Environ. Quality 1991). The health and future of the earth's ecological systems (Lubchenco et al. 1991), global climate change (Botkin 1990), and an ever-increasing rate in loss of species, communities, and ecological systems (Myers 1990) are among issues drawing biological diversity to the mainstream of conservation worldwide (Int. Union Conserv. Nat. and Nat. Resour. [IUCN] et al. 1991). The legal mandate for conserving biological diversity is now in place (Carlson 1988, Doremus 1991). More than 19 federal laws govern the use of biological resources in the United States (Rein 1991). The proposed National Biological Diversity Conservation and Environmental Research Act (H.R. 585 and S.58) notes the need for a national biological diversity policy, would create a national center for biological diversity research, and recommends a federal interagency strategy for ecosystem conservation. There are, however, hard choices ahead for the conservation of biological diversity, and biologists are grappling with how to set priorities in research and management (Roberts 1988). We sense disillusion among field biologists and managers relative to how to operationally approach the seemingly overwhelming charge of conserving biological diversity. Biologists also need to respond to critics like Hunt (1991) who suggest a tree farm has more biological diversity than an equal area of old-growth forest. At present, science has played only a minor role in the conservation of biological diversity (Weston 1992) with no unified approach available to evaluate strategies and programs that address the quality and quantity of biological diversity (Murphy 1990, Erwin 1992). Although actions to conserve biological diversity need to be clearly defined by viewing issues across biological, spatial, and temporal scales (Knopf and Smith 1992), natural resource managers find much conflicting information in the literature on strategies and programs for the conservation of biological diversity (Ehrlich 1992). Moreover, recommendations provided in much of the published information available for planning or decisions not only can be debated but may prove counterproductive if implemented. Current operational efforts beg for clearer focus on fundamental concepts central to daily decisions that impact native biological diversity. Recognizing that many biologists would provide different council and at the risk of oversimplification, we offer the following 4 topical issues as fundamental guidance to wise conservation action. These recommendations are based on our collective experiences working within conservation agencies since our original, collaborative essay (Samson and Knopf 1982). They are offered as initial, rather than authoritative, steps to better align research and management decisions with what we perceive as the critical issues in conserving biological diversity at the landscape and ecosystem levels of resolution.

Conservation of Water and Related Land Resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caldwell, Lynton K.

1984-04-01

The author was quite clear about the purpose of this book and clearly achieved his intent. In his preface, the author states, “The purpose of this book is to acquaint the reader with a broad understanding of the topics relevant to the management of the nation's water and related land resources.” The book is a product of the author's 20 years of work as a teacher, consultant, researcher, and student of watershed management and hydrology and has served as a text for a course entitled Soil and Water Conservation, which the author has taught at the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse, New York. But it was also written with the intent to be of use “to informal students of water and land related resources on the national level as well.” The objectives of Black's course at Syracuse and its larger purpose define the scope of the book which, again in the author's words, have been “(1) to acquaint students with principles of soil and water conservation; (2) to stimulate an appreciation for an integrated, comprehensive approach to land management; (3) to illustrate the influence of institutional, economic, and cultural forces on the practice of soil and water conservation; and (4) to provide information, methods, and techniques by which soil and water conservation measures are applied to land, as well as the basis for predicting and evaluating results.” The book is written in straightforward nontechnical language and provides the reader with a set of references, a table of cases, a list of abbreviations, and an adequate index. It impresses this reviewer as a very well edited piece of work.

Multi-cooperation of Cultural Heritage Conservation: The Cangdong Project of Guangdong Province

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, J.

2015-09-01

In recent years, some workshops and research cases have arisen in China to seek for suitable ways for heritage conservation and development of historic villages. However, the issue of multi-cooperation has not been much mentioned in research works. The case of Cangdong Project in Guangdong Province is a social enterprise. It is a center focusing on heritage education. It organizes tailor-made workshops for interested people from all over China and Hong Kong, Macao and overseas, including university courses for credits, summer/winter camps for primary and middle school students, as well as common people who are interested in heritage conservation. The purpose of the education center is to enhance heritage/cultural interest of the younger generations and common people, and try to work with local villagers to build a wealthy community. Nowadays, more and more villagers moved out for work and the countryside population in China is decreasing, this project also aims to create work opportunities for villagers through heritage conservation projects, so that the villagers can be willing to stay. The project focuses more in a sustainable way for community development. It has been five years since the project was set up in Cangdong Village. The project team worked with villagers, city people, students, scholars, different levels of local governments, investors, Medias, charitable organizations, as well as the market of tourism. As such, a platform of multi-cooperation for the above parties has formed during the past five years. This paper takes the Project experience from 2010-2015 as the case to study multi-cooperation in the field of heritage conservation in China, as well as to discuss how to co-operate the subjective initiatives of different stokeholds.

Optimal investment for enhancing social concern about biodiversity conservation: a dynamic approach.

PubMed

Lee, Joung Hun; Iwasa, Yoh

2012-11-01

To maintain biodiversity conservation areas, we need to invest in activities, such as monitoring the condition of the ecosystem, preventing illegal exploitation, and removing harmful alien species. These require a constant supply of resources, the level of which is determined by the concern of the society about biodiversity conservation. In this paper, we study the optimal fraction of the resources to invest in activities for enhancing the social concern y(t) by environmental education, museum displays, publications, and media exposure. We search for the strategy that maximizes the time-integral of the quality of the conservation area x(t) with temporal discounting. Analyses based on dynamic programming and Pontryagin's maximum principle show that the optimal control consists of two phases: (1) in the first phase, the social concern level approaches to the final optimal value y(∗), (2) in the second phase, resources are allocated to both activities, and the social concern level is kept constant y(t) = y(∗). If the social concern starts from a low initial level, the optimal path includes a period in which the quality of the conservation area declines temporarily, because all the resources are invested to enhance the social concern. When the support rate increases with the quality of the conservation area itself x(t) as well as with the level of social concern y(t), both variables may increase simultaneously in the second phase. We discuss the implication of the results to good management of biodiversity conservation areas. 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Boundary Conditions for Infinite Conservation Laws

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosenhaus, V.; Bruzón, M. S.; Gandarias, M. L.

2016-12-01

Regular soliton equations (KdV, sine-Gordon, NLS) are known to possess infinite sets of local conservation laws. Some other classes of nonlinear PDE possess infinite-dimensional symmetries parametrized by arbitrary functions of independent or dependent variables; among them are Zabolotskaya-Khokhlov, Kadomtsev-Petviashvili, Davey-Stewartson equations and Born-Infeld equation. Boundary conditions were shown to play an important role for the existence of local conservation laws associated with infinite-dimensional symmetries. In this paper, we analyze boundary conditions for the infinite conserved densities of regular soliton equations: KdV, potential KdV, Sine-Gordon equation, and nonlinear Schrödinger equation, and compare them with boundary conditions for the conserved densities obtained from infinite-dimensional symmetries with arbitrary functions of independent and dependent variables.

Integrability of generalised type II defects in affine Toda field theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bristow, Rebecca

2017-11-01

The Liouville integrability of the generalised type II defects is investigated. Full integrability is not considered, only the existence of an infinite number of conserved quantities associated with a system containing a defect. For defects in affine Toda field theories (ATFTs) it is shown that momentum conservation is very likely to be a necessary condition for integrability. The defect Lax matrices which guarantee zero curvature, and so an infinite number of conserved quantities, are calculated for the momentum conserving Tzitzéica defect and the momentum conserving D 4 ATFT defect. Some additional calculations pertaining to the D 4 defect are also carried out to find a more complete set of defect potentials than has appeared previously.

Trends and challenges for geoconservation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brilha, José

2017-04-01

Geoconservation as a geosciences domain is still a recent activity. Founded on the Earth's geodiversity, geoconservation aims to assure a proper conservation, management, and sustainable use of the most important geodiversity elements (minerals, rocks, fossils, soils, landforms and their landscapes, and active geological/geomorphological processes), which are generally known as geological heritage or simply geoheritage. During the last two decades, scientific research on geoconservation has been increasing, as it is demonstrated by the growing number of published papers, master/PhD theses and scientific events worldwide. Also at the international level, geoconservation seems to gain importance. The UNESCO officially recognizes geoheritage under two main systems (World Heritage and Global Geoparks) and IUCN is slowly accepting geoconservation as a fundamental asset for a holistic nature conservation approach. However, the main constrains for the development of geoconservation in Europe are associated with a total absence of any geoconservation policy by European Union authorities. The EU nature conservation policy is strictly designed towards biodiversity and ecosystems, which is a major drawback for those that are struggling to set up geoconservation actions in European countries. Without geoconservation principles promoted by the EU, the possibilities to obtain funding for research and for the implementation of effective geoconservation actions in these countries are practically none. In addition, the general economic restrains during the last decade and the political tendency to shrink the public sector in European societies is contributing to weak many public institutions that are responsible for the implementation of nature conservation strategies, which has become a justification by many national administrations for not considering geoconservation a priority. Geoconservation should play an important role in our societies. Some of the UN Sustainable Development Goals defined in the Agenda 2030 can be easily connected with geoconservation, a task that should motivate all geoconservacionists to join efforts and to define common strategies at the local, national, and international levels.

The use of SWOT analysis to explore and prioritize conservation and development strategies for local cattle breeds.

PubMed

Martín-Collado, D; Díaz, C; Mäki-Tanila, A; Colinet, F; Duclos, D; Hiemstra, S J; Gandini, G

2013-06-01

SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis is a tool widely used to help in decision making in complex systems. It suits to exploring the issues and measures related to the conservation and development of local breeds, as it allows the integration of many driving factors influencing breed dynamics. We developed a quantified SWOT method as a decision-making tool for identification and ranking of conservation and development strategies of local breeds, and applied it to a set of 13 cattle breeds of six European countries. The method has four steps: definition of the system, identification and grouping of the driving factors, quantification of the importance of driving factors and identification and prioritization of the strategies. The factors were determined following a multi-stakeholder approach and grouped with a three-level structure. Animal genetic resources expert groups ranked the factors, and a quantification process was implemented to identify and prioritize strategies. The proposed SWOT methodology allows analyzing the dynamics of local cattle breeds in a structured and systematic way. It is a flexible tool developed to assist different stakeholders in defining the strategies and actions. The quantification process allows the comparison of the driving factors and the prioritization of the strategies for the conservation and development of local cattle breeds. We identified 99 factors across the breeds. Although the situation is very heterogeneous, the future of these breeds may be promising. The most important strengths and weaknesses were related to production systems and farmers. The most important opportunities were found in marketing new products, whereas the most relevant threats were found in selling the current products. The across-breed strategies utility decreased as they gained specificity. Therefore, the strategies at European level should focus on general aspects and be flexible enough to be adapted to the country and breed specificities.

Energy conserving site design case study: Shenandoah, Georgia. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

The case study examines the means by which energy conservation can be achieved at an aggregate community level by using proper planning and analytical techniques for a new town, Shenandoah, Georgia, located twenty-five miles southwest of Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport. A potentially implementable energy conservation community plan is achieved by a study team examining the land use options, siting characteristics of each building type, alternate infrastructure plans, possible decentralized energy options, and central utility schemes to determine how community energy conservation can be achieved by use of pre-construction planning. The concept for the development of mixed land uses as amore » passively sited, energy conserving community is based on a plan (Level 1 Plan) that uses the natural site characteristics, maximizes on passive energy siting requirement, and allows flexibility for the changing needs of the developers. The Level 2 Plan is identical with Level 1 plan plus a series of decentraized systems that have been added to the residential units: the single-family detached, the apartments, and the townhouses. Level 3 Plan is similar to the Level 1 Plan except that higher density dwellings have been moved to areas adjacent to central site. The total energy savings for each plan relative to the conventional plan are indicated. (MCW)« less

Comparative modular analysis of gene expression in vertebrate organs.

PubMed

Piasecka, Barbara; Kutalik, Zoltán; Roux, Julien; Bergmann, Sven; Robinson-Rechavi, Marc

2012-03-29

The degree of conservation of gene expression between homologous organs largely remains an open question. Several recent studies reported some evidence in favor of such conservation. Most studies compute organs' similarity across all orthologous genes, whereas the expression level of many genes are not informative about organ specificity. Here, we use a modularization algorithm to overcome this limitation through the identification of inter-species co-modules of organs and genes. We identify such co-modules using mouse and human microarray expression data. They are functionally coherent both in terms of genes and of organs from both organisms. We show that a large proportion of genes belonging to the same co-module are orthologous between mouse and human. Moreover, their zebrafish orthologs also tend to be expressed in the corresponding homologous organs. Notable exceptions to the general pattern of conservation are the testis and the olfactory bulb. Interestingly, some co-modules consist of single organs, while others combine several functionally related organs. For instance, amygdala, cerebral cortex, hypothalamus and spinal cord form a clearly discernible unit of expression, both in mouse and human. Our study provides a new framework for comparative analysis which will be applicable also to other sets of large-scale phenotypic data collected across different species.

Research and management priorities for Hawaiian forest birds

USGS Publications Warehouse

Paxton, Eben H.; Laut, Megan; Vetter, John P.; Kendall, Steve J.

2018-01-01

Hawai‘i's forest birds face a number of conservation challenges that, if unaddressed, will likely lead to the extinction of multiple species in the coming decades. Threats include habitat loss, invasive plants, non-native predators, and introduced diseases. Climate change is predicted to increase the geographic extent and intensity of these threats, adding urgency to implementation of tractable conservation strategies. We present a set of actionable research and management approaches, identified by conservation practitioners in Hawai'i, that will be critical for the conservation of Hawaiian forest birds in the coming years. We also summarize recent progress on these conservation priorities. The threats facing Hawai‘i's forest birds are not unique to Hawai‘i, and successful conservation strategies developed in Hawai‘i can serve as a model for other imperiled communities around the world, especially on islands.

Parton Distributions based on a Maximally Consistent Dataset

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rojo, Juan

2016-04-01

The choice of data that enters a global QCD analysis can have a substantial impact on the resulting parton distributions and their predictions for collider observables. One of the main reasons for this has to do with the possible presence of inconsistencies, either internal within an experiment or external between different experiments. In order to assess the robustness of the global fit, different definitions of a conservative PDF set, that is, a PDF set based on a maximally consistent dataset, have been introduced. However, these approaches are typically affected by theory biases in the selection of the dataset. In this contribution, after a brief overview of recent NNPDF developments, we propose a new, fully objective, definition of a conservative PDF set, based on the Bayesian reweighting approach. Using the new NNPDF3.0 framework, we produce various conservative sets, which turn out to be mutually in agreement within the respective PDF uncertainties, as well as with the global fit. We explore some of their implications for LHC phenomenology, finding also good consistency with the global fit result. These results provide a non-trivial validation test of the new NNPDF3.0 fitting methodology, and indicate that possible inconsistencies in the fitted dataset do not affect substantially the global fit PDFs.

The impact of systematic landscape conservation planning on ecosystem: Chen Youlan river watershed

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Chi-ju

2017-04-01

Heraclitus said that "no man ever steps in the same river twice." Everything continues to change. Land use change will keep redefine itself and subject the Earth and humankind to collateral changes. Humankind benefits from ecosystem in many ways. The ecosystem provides people with nutrients, enriches soil with sediment, and sustains all living organisms with water; these benefits are known as ecosystem services. In Taiwan, land use change has impacted ecosystem and biodiversity on various levels. Thus, we took six land use scenarios from 1999 to 2005 in Chen Youlan river watershed as our case study, intending to observe the course of ecosystem and biodiversity changes and the cause of it. Systematic Landscape conservation planning (SLCP) framework can be adopted when designing land use policy to safeguard human interests and ecosystem. This study use SLCP to develop ecosystem services and biodiversity protection strategies. Several strategies were designed by using 1999 to 2005 data as provision to protect the intactness of future ecosystem services and biodiversity. This research explores the potential and possible impacts of different land use protection strategies in the future. It is possible to identify the conservation priority of a certain region by using the Zonation meta-algorithm. This study selects the zonation critical protection area (Joint set of Yushan National Park) as strategy A, B and C. Strategy D takes Yushan National Park as a protected area; unstable hot spots in 1999/03 (Joint set of Yushan National Park) are selected as strategy E. Next, we used Kappa statistical method to find the minimal ecosystem services change and biodiversity hotspots change of the five aforementioned strategies and compared with those from 1999/03. By the Kappa statistical method, we further prioritized the important conservation areas by strategy A, B, C, E in the future. The results can not only serve as management reference for government agencies, but also develop an ideal trajectory of policy making as well as human-nature dynamics, leading to a sustainable future. We do not have to be subject to changes passively, instead, we can evolve ourselves and actively initiate the evolutionary path towards sustainable coexistence with nature. Keywords: InVEST , CLUE-s , biodiversity , ecosystem services, ecosystem services hotspots, land use change, SLCP, Systematic Landscape conservation planning, Chen Youlan river

An inverter/controller subsystem optimized for photovoltaic applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pickrell, R. L.; Merrill, W. C.; Osullivan, G.

1978-01-01

Conversion of solar array dc power to ac power stimulated the specification, design, and simulation testing of an inverter/controller subsystem tailored to the photovoltaic power source characteristics. This paper discusses the optimization of the inverter/controller design as part of an overall Photovoltaic Power System (PPS) designed for maximum energy extraction from the solar array. The special design requirements for the inverter/controller include: (1) a power system controller (PSC) to control continuously the solar array operating point at the maximum power level based on variable solar insolation and cell temperatures; and (2) an inverter designed for high efficiency at rated load and low losses at light loadings to conserve energy. It must be capable of operating connected to the utility line at a level set by an external controller (PSC).

Cost-effective targeting of conservation investments to reduce the northern Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone.

PubMed

Rabotyagov, Sergey S; Campbell, Todd D; White, Michael; Arnold, Jeffrey G; Atwood, Jay; Norfleet, M Lee; Kling, Catherine L; Gassman, Philip W; Valcu, Adriana; Richardson, Jeffrey; Turner, R Eugene; Rabalais, Nancy N

2014-12-30

A seasonally occurring summer hypoxic (low oxygen) zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico is the second largest in the world. Reductions in nutrients from agricultural cropland in its watershed are needed to reduce the hypoxic zone size to the national policy goal of 5,000 km(2) (as a 5-y running average) set by the national Gulf of Mexico Task Force's Action Plan. We develop an integrated assessment model linking the water quality effects of cropland conservation investment decisions on the more than 550 agricultural subwatersheds that deliver nutrients into the Gulf with a hypoxic zone model. We use this integrated assessment model to identify the most cost-effective subwatersheds to target for cropland conservation investments. We consider targeting of the location (which subwatersheds to treat) and the extent of conservation investment to undertake (how much cropland within a subwatershed to treat). We use process models to simulate the dynamics of the effects of cropland conservation investments on nutrient delivery to the Gulf and use an evolutionary algorithm to solve the optimization problem. Model results suggest that by targeting cropland conservation investments to the most cost-effective location and extent of coverage, the Action Plan goal of 5,000 km(2) can be achieved at a cost of $2.7 billion annually. A large set of cost-hypoxia tradeoffs is developed, ranging from the baseline to the nontargeted adoption of the most aggressive cropland conservation investments in all subwatersheds (estimated to reduce the hypoxic zone to less than 3,000 km(2) at a cost of $5.6 billion annually).

Case study of building of conservation coalitions to conserve ecological interactions.

PubMed

Chen, Gao; Luo, Shihong; Mei, Nianshu; Shen, Dingfang; Sun, Weibang

2015-12-01

We engaged experts in various fields of study (pollination ecology, chemical ecology, and ethnobotany), invited community participation, and provided environmental education in an effort to conserve an endangered birthwort (Aristolochia delavayi) and a vulnerable pipevine swallowtail (Byasa daemonius). Scientists studied the uptake and sequestration of the secondary metabolites aristolochic acids from A. delavayi leaves by different stages of pipevine swallowtail as a defense mechanism; low fruit set of the myophilous A. delavayi due to pollinator limitation; and the emission of chemical signals that attract parasitic wasps by the prepupae of B. daemonius. The results of these studies were part of an education program delivered by personnel of non-governmental organizations. The program was devised to deliver information to the public about the health risks of consuming A. delavayi individuals (aristolochic-acid-associated cancers) and to establish a bridge between the public and scientific research. Following delivery of the program, the behavior of residents changed considerably. Community residents were involved in management activities, including participation in a program to promote understanding of ecological interactions between A. delavayi and B. daemonius; designing an in situ conservation site; monitoring A. delavayi and B. daemonius individuals; and promoting the natural fruit set of A. delavayi by scattering animal excrement to attract fly pollinators. The integration of scientific information and community participation appears to have resulted in an increase in abundance of threatened A. delavayi and B. daemonius populations. We believe the involvement of local people in conservation is necessary for successful species conservation. © 2015 Society for Conservation Biology.

Spatial ecology and movement of reintroduced Canada lynx

USGS Publications Warehouse

Buderman, Frances E.; Hooten, Mevin B.; Ivan, Jacob S.; Shenk, Tanya

2017-01-01

Understanding movement behavior and identifying areas of landscape connectivity is critical for the conservation of many species. However, collecting fine‐scale movement data can be prohibitively time consuming and costly, especially for rare or endangered species, whereas existing data sets may provide the best available information on animal movement. Contemporary movement models may not be an option for modeling existing data due to low temporal resolution and large or unusual error structures, but inference can still be obtained using a functional movement modeling approach. We use a functional movement model to perform a population‐level analysis of telemetry data collected during the reintroduction of Canada lynx to Colorado. Little is known about southern lynx populations compared to those in Canada and Alaska, and inference is often limited to a few individuals due to their low densities. Our analysis of a population of Canada lynx fills significant gaps in the knowledge of Canada lynx behavior at the southern edge of its historical range. We analyzed functions of individual‐level movement paths, such as speed, residence time, and tortuosity, and identified a region of connectivity that extended north from the San Juan Mountains, along the continental divide, and terminated in Wyoming at the northern edge of the Southern Rocky Mountains. Individuals were able to traverse large distances across non‐boreal habitat, including exploratory movements to the Greater Yellowstone area and beyond. We found evidence for an effect of seasonality and breeding status on many of the movement quantities and documented a potential reintroduction effect. Our findings provide the first analysis of Canada lynx movement in Colorado and substantially augment the information available for conservation and management decisions. The functional movement framework can be extended to other species and demonstrates that information on movement behavior can be obtained using existing data sets.

Perceptions of fishers to sea turtle bycatch, illegal capture and consumption in the San Ignacio-Navachiste-Macapule lagoon complex, Gulf of California, Mexico.

PubMed

Aguilar-González, Myrna E; Luna-González, Antonio; Aguirre, Alonso; Zavala-Norzagaray, Alan A; Mundo-Ocampo, Manuel; González-Ocampo, Héctor A

2014-01-01

In this study, 10% of all registered fishermen in the coastal towns of Navachiste in Sinaloa, in northwestern Mexico, answered a survey designed to collect data on their perceptions of the following topics: the impact of turtle meat consumption; human health; bycatch; illegal turtle fishing; the illegal sea turtle market; the local economy; pollution; environmental education; the success of protective legislation; and sea turtle-based ecotourism. Perceptions were analyzed using the fuzzy logic method through classification into 5 fuzzy membership sets: VL, very low; L, low; M, moderate; H, high; VH, very high. The 9 topics generated decision areas upon applying fuzzy inference that revealed the membership level of the answers in each fuzzy set. The economic potential of sea turtle-based ecotourism and the economic profitability of the illegal turtle meat market were perceived as VL. Conservation legislation was perceived as H, although inefficiently applied due to corruption. Ecotourism and impacts on sea turtles were perceived as VL, because they were deemed unprofitable activities at the individual and community levels. Environmental education was perceived as L, because it centers on nesting, hatching and releasing turtles and is directed at elementary and middle-school students. While fishers perceive a serious negative impact of fishing activities on sea turtles in the San Ignacio-Navachiste-Macapule area, they do not see themselves individually as part of the problem. Achieving sea turtle conservation in this region requires: suitable ecotourism infrastructure, government investments in promotion, and studies to estimate the minimum number of tourists needed to assure profitability. © 2012 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd, ISZS and IOZ/CAS.

CFHTLenS revisited: assessing concordance with Planck including astrophysical systematics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joudaki, Shahab; Blake, Chris; Heymans, Catherine; Choi, Ami; Harnois-Deraps, Joachim; Hildebrandt, Hendrik; Joachimi, Benjamin; Johnson, Andrew; Mead, Alexander; Parkinson, David; Viola, Massimo; van Waerbeke, Ludovic

2017-02-01

We investigate the impact of astrophysical systematics on cosmic shear cosmological parameter constraints from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Lensing Survey (CFHTLenS) and the concordance with cosmic microwave background measurements by Planck. We present updated CFHTLenS cosmic shear tomography measurements extended to degree scales using a covariance calibrated by a new suite of N-body simulations. We analyse these measurements with a new model fitting pipeline, accounting for key systematic uncertainties arising from intrinsic galaxy alignments, baryonic effects in the non-linear matter power spectrum, and photometric redshift uncertainties. We examine the impact of the systematic degrees of freedom on the cosmological parameter constraints, both independently and jointly. When the systematic uncertainties are considered independently, the intrinsic alignment amplitude is the only degree of freedom that is substantially preferred by the data. When the systematic uncertainties are considered jointly, there is no consistently strong preference in favour of the more complex models. We quantify the level of concordance between the CFHTLenS and Planck data sets by employing two distinct data concordance tests, grounded in Bayesian evidence and information theory. We find that the two data concordance tests largely agree with one another and that the level of concordance between the CFHTLenS and Planck data sets is sensitive to the exact details of the systematic uncertainties included in our analysis, ranging from decisive discordance to substantial concordance as the treatment of the systematic uncertainties becomes more conservative. The least conservative scenario is the one most favoured by the cosmic shear data, but it is also the one that shows the greatest degree of discordance with Planck. The data and analysis code are publicly available at https://github.com/sjoudaki/cfhtlens_revisited.

New Developments in the Method of Space-Time Conservation Element and Solution Element-Applications to Two-Dimensional Time-Marching Problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chang, Sin-Chung; Wang, Xiao-Yen; Chow, Chuen-Yen

1994-01-01

A new numerical discretization method for solving conservation laws is being developed. This new approach differs substantially in both concept and methodology from the well-established methods, i.e., finite difference, finite volume, finite element, and spectral methods. It is motivated by several important physical/numerical considerations and designed to avoid several key limitations of the above traditional methods. As a result of the above considerations, a set of key principles for the design of numerical schemes was put forth in a previous report. These principles were used to construct several numerical schemes that model a 1-D time-dependent convection-diffusion equation. These schemes were then extended to solve the time-dependent Euler and Navier-Stokes equations of a perfect gas. It was shown that the above schemes compared favorably with the traditional schemes in simplicity, generality, and accuracy. In this report, the 2-D versions of the above schemes, except the Navier-Stokes solver, are constructed using the same set of design principles. Their constructions are simplified greatly by the use of a nontraditional space-time mesh. Its use results in the simplest stencil possible, i.e., a tetrahedron in a 3-D space-time with a vertex at the upper time level and other three at the lower time level. Because of the similarity in their design, each of the present 2-D solvers virtually shares with its 1-D counterpart the same fundamental characteristics. Moreover, it is shown that the present Euler solver is capable of generating highly accurate solutions for a famous 2-D shock reflection problem. Specifically, both the incident and the reflected shocks can be resolved by a single data point without the presence of numerical oscillations near the discontinuity.

A framework for setting land conservation priorities in the Sierra Nevada

Treesearch

Frank W. Davis; Chris C. Costello; David Stoms; Elia Machado; Josh Metz

2004-01-01

In California, hundreds of different public and private organizations are involved in prioritizing and acquiring new conservation lands (California Environmental Dialogue 1999, California Continuing Resources Investment Strategy Project 2001). Although the State of California owns less than 3 percent of the land (Davis and Stoms 1998), it plays a significant role in...

12 CFR 360.6 - Treatment by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as conservator or receiver of financial...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... accepted accounting principles, other than the “legal isolation” condition as it applies to institutions... the conditions for sale accounting treatment set forth by generally accepted accounting principles in... Corporation as conservator or receiver of financial assets transferred in connection with a securitization or...

75 FR 76968 - Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Decision and Order Granting a Waiver to the...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-10

... III of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) sets forth a variety of provisions designed to... procedures that are reasonably designed to produce results that measure energy efficiency, energy use, or... more design characteristics that prevent testing according to the prescribed test procedure, or (2...

Hands-On Herpetology: Exploring Ecology and Conservation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schneider, Rebecca L.; Krasny, Marianne E.; Morreale, Stephen J.

This guide provides an introduction to the study of reptiles and amphibians and presents opportunities for young people to become involved in their conservation. This book is designed as an instructional guide for many educators in various settings from classroom to nature center. The material provides a thorough introduction to the world of…

Energy Conservation in the Home. Performance Based Lesson Plans.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alabama State Dept. of Education, Montgomery. Home Economics Service.

These ten performance-based lesson plans concentrate on tasks related to energy conservation in the home. They are (1) caulk cracks, holes, and joints; (2) apply weatherstripping to doors and windows; (3) add plastic/solar screen window covering; (4) arrange furniture for saving energy; (5) set heating/cooling thermostat; (6) replace faucet…

75 FR 20111 - Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Residential Water Heaters, Direct...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-04-16

... the ``three heating products'') must be designed to ``achieve the maximum improvement in energy... and CO 2 savings are performed with different computer models, leading to different time frames for... of EPCA sets forth a variety of provisions designed to improve energy efficiency. Part A\\1\\ of Title...

Learning & Knowledge Production in North Carolina Sea Turtle Conservation Communities of Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Kathleen Carol

2010-01-01

This dissertation focused upon non-formal and informal learning practices and knowledge production amongst [adult] participants involved in local sea turtle conservation practices along the US Atlantic coast. In the United States, adult learning and adult education has historically occurred within non-formal settings (e.g., through community-based…

Analysis of combined data sets yields trend estimates for vulnerable spruce-fir birds in northern United States

Treesearch

Joel Ralston; David I. King; William V. DeLuca; Gerald J. Niemi; Michale J. Glennon; Judith C. Scarl; J. Daniel Lambert

2015-01-01

Continental-scale monitoring programs with standardized survey protocols play an important role in conservation science by identifying species in decline and prioritizing conservation action. However, rare, inaccessible, or spatially fragmented communities may be underrepresented in continental-scale surveys. Data on these communities often come from decentralized,...

Conservation Education Improvement. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Diem, Kenneth L.; Hennebry, Howard M.

In an attempt to improve the teaching of conservation in elementary and junior high schools, a set of integrated sequential core units was formulated and tested in five Wyoming school districts during the fall and early winter of 1968. Based on a total sample of 840 elementary students (38% usable response) and 960 junior high students (49% usable…

7 CFR 1491.22 - Conservation easement deeds.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... goals and objectives for the term of the easement. (b) Pending offers by an eligible entity must be for... conservation easement deed to protect the interests of the United States. The Chief may exercise the option to... of enforcement” clause to read as set forth in the FRPP cooperative agreement. This right is a vested...

Environmental and Management Goal Setting for the Long Island Sound Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan

EPA Science Inventory

Over the past 3 years the Long Island Sound Study (LISS) has been developing a revised Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP), the blueprint for the protection and restoration of the Sound for the next generation. Long Island Sound is located within the most densel...

Rethinking the Plight of Conservatives in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woessner, Matthew

2012-01-01

In this article, the author talks about the plight of conservatives within academia. He discusses the results of a study of politics in higher education. Using survey data from the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, the author and his wife set about testing possible explanations for the ideological…

Preserving the evolutionary potential of floras in biodiversity hotspots.

PubMed

Forest, Félix; Grenyer, Richard; Rouget, Mathieu; Davies, T Jonathan; Cowling, Richard M; Faith, Daniel P; Balmford, Andrew; Manning, John C; Procheş, Serban; van der Bank, Michelle; Reeves, Gail; Hedderson, Terry A J; Savolainen, Vincent

2007-02-15

One of the biggest challenges for conservation biology is to provide conservation planners with ways to prioritize effort. Much attention has been focused on biodiversity hotspots. However, the conservation of evolutionary process is now also acknowledged as a priority in the face of global change. Phylogenetic diversity (PD) is a biodiversity index that measures the length of evolutionary pathways that connect a given set of taxa. PD therefore identifies sets of taxa that maximize the accumulation of 'feature diversity'. Recent studies, however, concluded that taxon richness is a good surrogate for PD. Here we show taxon richness to be decoupled from PD, using a biome-wide phylogenetic analysis of the flora of an undisputed biodiversity hotspot--the Cape of South Africa. We demonstrate that this decoupling has real-world importance for conservation planning. Finally, using a database of medicinal and economic plant use, we demonstrate that PD protection is the best strategy for preserving feature diversity in the Cape. We should be able to use PD to identify those key regions that maximize future options, both for the continuing evolution of life on Earth and for the benefit of society.

I-HEDGE: determining the optimum complementary sets of taxa for conservation using evolutionary isolation

PubMed Central

Mooers, Arne Ø.; Caccone, Adalgisa; Russello, Michael A.

2016-01-01

In the midst of the current biodiversity crisis, conservation efforts might profitably be directed towards ensuring that extinctions do not result in inordinate losses of evolutionary history. Numerous methods have been developed to evaluate the importance of species based on their contribution to total phylogenetic diversity on trees and networks, but existing methods fail to take complementarity into account, and thus cannot identify the best order or subset of taxa to protect. Here, we develop a novel iterative calculation of the heightened evolutionary distinctiveness and globally endangered metric (I-HEDGE) that produces the optimal ranked list for conservation prioritization, taking into account complementarity and based on both phylogenetic diversity and extinction probability. We applied this metric to a phylogenetic network based on mitochondrial control region data from extant and recently extinct giant Galápagos tortoises, a highly endangered group of closely related species. We found that the restoration of two extinct species (a project currently underway) will contribute the greatest gain in phylogenetic diversity, and present an ordered list of rankings that is the optimum complementarity set for conservation prioritization. PMID:27635324

I-HEDGE: determining the optimum complementary sets of taxa for conservation using evolutionary isolation.

PubMed

Jensen, Evelyn L; Mooers, Arne Ø; Caccone, Adalgisa; Russello, Michael A

2016-01-01

In the midst of the current biodiversity crisis, conservation efforts might profitably be directed towards ensuring that extinctions do not result in inordinate losses of evolutionary history. Numerous methods have been developed to evaluate the importance of species based on their contribution to total phylogenetic diversity on trees and networks, but existing methods fail to take complementarity into account, and thus cannot identify the best order or subset of taxa to protect. Here, we develop a novel iterative calculation of the heightened evolutionary distinctiveness and globally endangered metric (I-HEDGE) that produces the optimal ranked list for conservation prioritization, taking into account complementarity and based on both phylogenetic diversity and extinction probability. We applied this metric to a phylogenetic network based on mitochondrial control region data from extant and recently extinct giant Galápagos tortoises, a highly endangered group of closely related species. We found that the restoration of two extinct species (a project currently underway) will contribute the greatest gain in phylogenetic diversity, and present an ordered list of rankings that is the optimum complementarity set for conservation prioritization.

A case of pelvic organ prolapse in the setting of cirrhotic ascites.

PubMed

Shah, Nima M; Ginzburg, Natasha; Whitmore, Kristene

2016-01-01

Ascites is commonly found in patients with liver cirrhosis. Although conservative therapy is often the ideal choice of care with these patients who also have symptomatic pelvic organ prolapse, this may fail and surgical methods may be needed. Literature is limited regarding surgical repair of prolapse in the setting of ascites. The authors present the surgical evaluation and management of a 63-year-old woman with recurrent ascites from liver cirrhosis who failed conservative therapy. With adequate multidisciplinary care and medical optimization, this patient underwent surgical therapy with resolution of her symptomatic prolapse and improved quality of life.

Conservative treatment of boundary interfaces for overlaid grids and multi-level grid adaptations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moon, Young J.; Liou, Meng-Sing

1989-01-01

Conservative algorithms for boundary interfaces of overlaid grids are presented. The basic method is zeroth order, and is extended to a higher order method using interpolation and subcell decomposition. The present method, strictly based on a conservative constraint, is tested with overlaid grids for various applications of unsteady and steady supersonic inviscid flows with strong shock waves. The algorithm is also applied to a multi-level grid adaptation in which the next level finer grid is overlaid on the coarse base grid with an arbitrary orientation.

The Red Queen and the seed bank: pathogen resistance of ex situ and in situ conserved barley.

PubMed

Jensen, Helen R; Dreiseitl, Antonín; Sadiki, Mohammed; Schoen, Daniel J

2012-06-01

Plant geneticists have proposed that the dynamic conservation of crop plants in farm environments (in situ conservation) is complementary to static conservation in seed banks (ex situ conservation) because it may help to ensure adaptation to changing conditions. Here, we test whether collections of a traditional variety of Moroccan barley (Hordeum vulgare ssp. vulgare) conserved ex situ showed differences in qualitative and quantitative resistance to the endemic fungal pathogen, Blumeria graminis f.sp. hordei, compared to collections that were continuously cultivated in situ. In detached-leaf assays for qualitative resistance, there were some significant differences between in situ and ex situ conserved collections from the same localities. Some ex situ conserved collections showed lower resistance levels, while others showed higher resistance levels than their in situ conserved counterparts. In field trials for quantitative resistance, similar results were observed, with the highest resistance observed in situ. Overall, this study identifies some cases where the Red Queen appears to drive the evolution of increased resistance in situ. However, in situ conservation does not always result in improved adaptation to pathogen virulence, suggesting a more complex evolutionary scenario, consistent with several published examples of plant-pathogen co-evolution in wild systems.

High overlap between traditional ecological knowledge and forest conservation found in the Bolivian Amazon.

PubMed

Paneque-Gálvez, Jaime; Pérez-Llorente, Irene; Luz, Ana Catarina; Guèze, Maximilien; Mas, Jean-François; Macía, Manuel J; Orta-Martínez, Martí; Reyes-García, Victoria

2018-03-12

It has been suggested that traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) may play a key role in forest conservation. However, empirical studies assessing to what extent TEK is associated with forest conservation compared with other variables are rare. Furthermore, to our knowledge, the spatial overlap of TEK and forest conservation has not been evaluated at fine scales. In this paper, we address both issues through a case study with Tsimane' Amerindians in the Bolivian Amazon. We sampled 624 households across 59 villages to estimate TEK and used remote sensing data to assess forest conservation. We ran statistical and spatial analyses to evaluate whether TEK was associated and spatially overlapped with forest conservation at the village level. We find that Tsimane' TEK is significantly and positively associated with forest conservation although acculturation variables bear stronger and negative associations with forest conservation. We also find a very significant spatial overlap between levels of Tsimane' TEK and forest conservation. We discuss the potential reasons underpinning our results, which provide insights that may be useful for informing policies in the realms of development, conservation, and climate. We posit that the protection of indigenous cultural systems is vital and urgent to create more effective policies in such realms.

Exploring spatial patterns of vulnerability for diverse biodiversity descriptors in regional conservation planning.

PubMed

Vimal, Ruppert; Pluvinet, Pascal; Sacca, Céline; Mazagol, Pierre-Olivier; Etlicher, Bernard; Thompson, John D

2012-03-01

In this study, we developed a multi-criteria assessment of spatial variability of the vulnerability of three different biodiversity descriptors: sites of high conservation interest by virtue of the presence of rare or remarkable species, extensive areas of high ecological integrity, and landscape diversity in grid cells across an entire region. We assessed vulnerability in relation to (a) direct threats in and around sites to a distance of 2 km associated with intensive agriculture, building and road infrastructure and (b) indirect effects of human population density on a wider scale (50 km). The different combinations of biodiversity and threat indicators allowed us to set differential priorities for biodiversity conservation and assess their spatial variation. For example, with this method we identified sites and grid cells which combined high biodiversity with either high threat values or low threat values for the three different biodiversity indicators. In these two classes the priorities for conservation planning will be different, reduce threat values in the former and restrain any increase in the latter. We also identified low priority sites (low biodiversity with either high or low threats). This procedure thus allows for the integration of a spatial ranking of vulnerability into priority setting for regional conservation planning. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Conservation of Mass and Preservation of Positivity with Ensemble-Type Kalman Filter Algorithms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Janjic, Tijana; Mclaughlin, Dennis; Cohn, Stephen E.; Verlaan, Martin

2014-01-01

This paper considers the incorporation of constraints to enforce physically based conservation laws in the ensemble Kalman filter. In particular, constraints are used to ensure that the ensemble members and the ensemble mean conserve mass and remain nonnegative through measurement updates. In certain situations filtering algorithms such as the ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) and ensemble transform Kalman filter (ETKF) yield updated ensembles that conserve mass but are negative, even though the actual states must be nonnegative. In such situations if negative values are set to zero, or a log transform is introduced, the total mass will not be conserved. In this study, mass and positivity are both preserved by formulating the filter update as a set of quadratic programming problems that incorporate non-negativity constraints. Simple numerical experiments indicate that this approach can have a significant positive impact on the posterior ensemble distribution, giving results that are more physically plausible both for individual ensemble members and for the ensemble mean. In two examples, an update that includes a non-negativity constraint is able to properly describe the transport of a sharp feature (e.g., a triangle or cone). A number of implementation questions still need to be addressed, particularly the need to develop a computationally efficient quadratic programming update for large ensemble.

Leadership: a new frontier in conservation science.

PubMed

Manolis, Jim C; Chan, Kai M; Finkelstein, Myra E; Stephens, Scott; Nelson, Cara R; Grant, Jacqualine B; Dombeck, Michael P

2009-08-01

Leadership is a critical tool for expanding the influence of conservation science, but recent advances in leadership concepts and practice remain underutilized by conservation scientists. Furthermore, an explicit conceptual foundation and definition of leadership in conservation science are not available in the literature. Here we drew on our diverse leadership experiences, our reading of leadership literature, and discussions with selected conservation science leaders to define conservation-science leadership, summarize an exploratory set of leadership principles that are applicable to conservation science, and recommend actions to expand leadership capacity among conservation scientists and practitioners. We define 2 types of conservation-science leadership: shaping conservation science through path-breaking research, and advancing the integration of conservation science into policy, management, and society at large. We focused on the second, integrative type of leadership because we believe it presents the greatest opportunity for improving conservation effectiveness. We identified 8 leadership principles derived mainly from the "adaptive leadership" literature: recognize the social dimension of the problem; cycle frequently through action and reflection; get and maintain attention; combine strengths of multiple leaders; extend your reach through networks of relationships; strategically time your effort; nurture productive conflict; and cultivate diversity. Conservation scientists and practitioners should strive to develop themselves as leaders, and the Society for Conservation Biology, conservation organizations, and academia should support this effort through professional development, mentoring, teaching, and research.

Current conserving theory at the operator level

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, Jiangtao; Wang, Yin; Wang, Jian

The basic assumption of quantum transport in mesoscopic systems is that the total charge inside the scattering region is zero. This means that the potential deep inside reservoirs is effectively screened and therefore the electric field at interface of scattering region is zero. Thus the current conservation condition can be satisfied automatically which is an important condition in mesoscopic transport. So far the current conserving ac theory is well developed by considering the displacement current which is due to Coulomb interaction if we just focus on the average current. However, the frequency dependent shot noise does not satisfy the conservation condition since we do not consider the current conservation at the operator level. In this work, we formulate a generalized current conserving theory at the operator level using non-equilibrium Green's function theory which could be applied to both average current and frequency dependent shot noise. A displacement operator is derived for the first time so that the frequency dependent correlation of displacement currents could be investigated. Moreover, the equilibrium shot noise is investigated and a generalized fluctuation-dissipation relationship is presented.

Robust network design for multispecies conservation

Treesearch

Ronan Le Bras; Bistra Dilkina; Yexiang Xue; Carla P. Gomes; Kevin S. McKelvey; Michael K. Schwartz; Claire A. Montgomery

2013-01-01

Our work is motivated by an important network design application in computational sustainability concerning wildlife conservation. In the face of human development and climate change, it is important that conservation plans for protecting landscape connectivity exhibit certain level of robustness. While previous work has focused on conservation strategies that result...

Managing scuba divers to meet ecological goals for coral reef conservation.

PubMed

Sorice, Michael G; Oh, Chi-Ok; Ditton, Robert B

2007-06-01

Marine protected areas increasingly are challenged to maintain or increase tourism benefits while adequately protecting resources. Although carrying capacity strategies can be used to cope with use-related impacts, there is little understanding of divers themselves, their management preferences, and how preferences relate to conservation goals. By using a stated preference choice modeling approach, we investigated the choices divers make in selecting diving trips to marine protected areas as defined by use level, access, level of supervision, fees, conservation education, and diving expectations. Logit models showed that divers preferred a more restrictive management scenario over the status quo. Divers favored reductions in the level of site use and increased levels of conservation education. Divers did not favor fees to access protected areas, having less access to the resource, or extensive supervision. Finally, divers were much more willing to accept increasingly restrictive management scenarios when they could expect to see increased marine life.

Six Common Mistakes in Conservation Priority Setting

PubMed Central

Game, Edward T; Kareiva, Peter; Possingham, Hugh P

2013-01-01

Abstract A vast number of prioritization schemes have been developed to help conservation navigate tough decisions about the allocation of finite resources. However, the application of quantitative approaches to setting priorities in conservation frequently includes mistakes that can undermine their authors’ intention to be more rigorous and scientific in the way priorities are established and resources allocated. Drawing on well-established principles of decision science, we highlight 6 mistakes commonly associated with setting priorities for conservation: not acknowledging conservation plans are prioritizations; trying to solve an ill-defined problem; not prioritizing actions; arbitrariness; hidden value judgments; and not acknowledging risk of failure. We explain these mistakes and offer a path to help conservation planners avoid making the same mistakes in future prioritizations. Seis Errores Comunes en la Definición de Prioridades de Conservación Resumen Se ha desarrollado un vasto número de esquemas de priorización para ayudar a que la conservación navegue entre decisiones difíciles en cuanto a la asignación de recursos finitos. Sin embargo, la aplicación de métodos cuantitativos para la definición de prioridades en la conservación frecuentemente incluye errores que pueden socavar la intención de sus autores de ser más rigurosos y científicos en la manera en que se establecen las prioridades y se asignan los recursos. Con base en los bien establecidos principios de la ciencia de la decisión, resaltamos seis errores comúnmente asociados con la definición de prioridades para la conservación: no reconocer que los planes de conservación son priorizaciones; tratar de resolver un problema mal definido; no priorizar acciones; arbitrariedad; juicios de valor ocultos y no reconocer el riesgo de fracasar. Explicamos estos errores y ofrecemos un camino para que planificadores de la conservación no cometan los mismos errores en priorizaciones futuras. PMID:23565990

Brace and deformity-related stress level in females with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis based on the Bad Sobernheim Stress Questionnaires

PubMed Central

Misterska, Ewa; Glowacki, Maciej; Harasymczuk, Jerzy

2011-01-01

Summary Background Psychopathological symptoms occur more often in chronically ill patients than in healthy populations. The aim of this study was to analyze the associations between different types of treatment and stress levels. Material/Methods The study group consisted of 69 females, of whom 35 were treated conservatively with a Cheneau brace; the other 34 subjects were treated operatively and, after correction of scoliosis with thoracoplasty, wore a brace for 12 weeks during the postoperative period. Patients completed the Polish versions of the Bad Sobernheim Stress Questionnaire-Deformity and the Bad Sobernheim Stress Questionnaire-Brace. Results Patients who were treated surgically felt a moderate level of stress connected with wearing the brace and with body deformation. The group treated conservatively felt moderate stress connected with wearing the brace, but a low level of stress in relation to body deformation. The groups differed significantly statistically in the level of stress felt regarding body deformation (p=0.004). In the group treated conservatively, the correlation between the level of stress, the age at which treatment was initiated, and degree of apical translation proved to be significant. Conclusions Patients treated surgically in comparison with patients treated conservatively report higher stress levels connected with body deformation. A higher level of stress depends on the degree of trunk deformation on the frontal plane; stress is also higher in patients who begin conservative treatment at a later age. PMID:21278693

Biodiversity conservation in local planning.

PubMed

Miller, James R; Groom, Martha; Hess, George R; Steelman, Toddi; Stokes, David L; Thompson, Jan; Bowman, Troy; Fricke, Laura; King, Brandon; Marquardt, Ryan

2009-02-01

Local land-use policy is increasingly being recognized as fundamental to biodiversity conservation in the United States. Many planners and conservation scientists have called for broader use of planning and regulatory tools to support the conservation of biodiversity at local scales. Yet little is known about the pervasiveness of these practices. We conducted an on-line survey of county, municipal, and tribal planning directors (n =116) in 3 geographic regions of the United States: metropolitan Seattle, Washington; metropolitan Des Moines, Iowa; and the Research Triangle, North Carolina. Our objectives were to gauge the extent to which local planning departments address biodiversity conservation and to identify factors that facilitate or hinder conservation actions in local planning. We found that biodiversity conservation was seldom a major consideration in these departments. Staff time was mainly devoted to development mandates and little time was spent on biodiversity conservation. Regulations requiring conservation actions that might benefit biodiversity were uncommon, with the exception of rules governing water quality in all 3 regions and the protection of threatened and endangered species in the Seattle region. Planning tools that could enhance habitat conservation were used infrequently. Collaboration across jurisdictions was widespread, but rarely focused on conservation. Departments with a conservation specialist on staff tended to be associated with higher levels of conservation actions. Jurisdictions in the Seattle region also reported higher levels of conservation action, largely driven by state and federal mandates. Increased funding was most frequently cited as a factor that would facilitate greater consideration of biodiversity in local planning. There are numerous opportunities for conservation biologists to play a role in improving conservation planning at local scales.

Genetic diversity and population structure of a protected species: Polygala tenuifolia Willd.

PubMed

Peng, Yan Qun; Fan, Ling Ling; Mao, Fu Ying; Zhao, Yun Sheng; Xu, Rui; Yin, Yu Jie; Chen, Xin; Wan, De Guang; Zhang, Xin Hui

2018-03-01

Polygala tenuifolia Willd. is an important protected species used in traditional Chinese medicine. In the present study, amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers were employed to characterize the genetic diversity in wild and cultivated P. tenuifolia populations. Twelve primer combinations of AFLP produced 310 unambiguous and repetitious bands. Among these bands, 261 (84.2%) were polymorphic. The genetic diversity was high at the species level: percentage of polymorphic loci (PPL)=84.2%, Nei's gene diversity (h)=0.3296 and Shannon's information index (I)=0.4822. Between the two populations, the genetic differentiation of 0.1250 was low and the gene flow was relatively high, at 3.4989. The wild population (PPL=81.9%, h=0.3154, I=0.4635) showed a higher genetic diversity level than the cultivated population (PPL=63.9%, h=0.2507, I=0.3688). The results suggest that the major factors threatening the persistence of P. tenuifolia resources are ecological and human factors rather than genetic. These results will assist with the design of conservation and management programs, such as in natural habitat conservation, setting the excavation time interval for resource regeneration and the substitution of cultivated for wild plants. Copyright © 2018 Académie des sciences. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Development of 2010 national land cover database for the Nepal.

PubMed

Uddin, Kabir; Shrestha, Him Lal; Murthy, M S R; Bajracharya, Birendra; Shrestha, Basanta; Gilani, Hammad; Pradhan, Sudip; Dangol, Bikash

2015-01-15

Land cover and its change analysis across the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region is realized as an urgent need to support diverse issues of environmental conservation. This study presents the first and most complete national land cover database of Nepal prepared using public domain Landsat TM data of 2010 and replicable methodology. The study estimated that 39.1% of Nepal is covered by forests and 29.83% by agriculture. Patch and edge forests constituting 23.4% of national forest cover revealed proximate biotic interferences over the forests. Core forests constituted 79.3% of forests of Protected areas where as 63% of area was under core forests in the outside protected area. Physiographic regions wise forest fragmentation analysis revealed specific conservation requirements for productive hill and mid mountain regions. Comparative analysis with Landsat TM based global land cover product showed difference of the order of 30-60% among different land cover classes stressing the need for significant improvements for national level adoption. The online web based land cover validation tool is developed for continual improvement of land cover product. The potential use of the data set for national and regional level sustainable land use planning strategies and meeting several global commitments also highlighted. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

From Feynman rules to conserved quantum numbers, I

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nogueira, P.

2017-05-01

In the context of Quantum Field Theory (QFT) there is often the need to find sets of graph-like diagrams (the so-called Feynman diagrams) for a given physical model. If negative, the answer to the related problem 'Are there any diagrams with this set of external fields?' may settle certain physical questions at once. Here the latter problem is formulated in terms of a system of linear diophantine equations derived from the Lagrangian density, from which necessary conditions for the existence of the required diagrams may be obtained. Those conditions are equalities that look like either linear diophantine equations or linear modular (i.e. congruence) equations, and may be found by means of fairly simple algorithms that involve integer computations. The diophantine equations so obtained represent (particle) number conservation rules, and are related to the conserved (additive) quantum numbers that may be assigned to the fields of the model.

Terminology - glossary including acronyms and quotations in use for the conservative spinal deformities treatment: 8th SOSORT consensus paper.

PubMed

Grivas, Theodoros B; de Mauroy, Jean Claude; Négrini, Stefano; Kotwicki, Tomasz; Zaina, Fabio; Wynne, James H; Stokes, Ian A; Knott, Patrick; Pizzetti, Paolo; Rigo, Manuel; Villagrasa, Monica; Weiss, Hans Rudolf; Maruyama, Toru

2010-11-02

This report is the SOSORT Consensus Paper on Terminology for use in the treatment of conservative spinal deformities. Figures are provided and relevant literature is cited where appropriate. The Delphi method was used to reach a preliminary consensus before the meeting, where the terms that still needed further clarification were discussed. A final agreement was found for all the terms, which now constitute the base of this glossary. New terms will be added after being discussed and accepted. When only one set of terms is used for communication in a place or among a group of people, then everyone can clearly and efficiently communicate. This principle applies for any professional group. Until now, no common set of terms was available in the field of the conservative treatment of scoliosis and spinal deformities. This glossary gives a common base language to draw from to discuss data, findings and treatment.

Protecting Biodiversity when Money Matters: Maximizing Return on Investment

PubMed Central

Underwood, Emma C.; Shaw, M. Rebecca; Wilson, Kerrie A.; Kareiva, Peter; Klausmeyer, Kirk R.; McBride, Marissa F.; Bode, Michael; Morrison, Scott A.; Hoekstra, Jonathan M.; Possingham, Hugh P.

2008-01-01

Background Conventional wisdom identifies biodiversity hotspots as priorities for conservation investment because they capture dense concentrations of species. However, density of species does not necessarily imply conservation ‘efficiency’. Here we explicitly consider conservation efficiency in terms of species protected per dollar invested. Methodology/Principal Findings We apply a dynamic return on investment approach to a global biome and compare it with three alternate priority setting approaches and a random allocation of funding. After twenty years of acquiring habitat, the return on investment approach protects between 32% and 69% more species compared to the other priority setting approaches. To correct for potential inefficiencies of protecting the same species multiple times we account for the complementarity of species, protecting up to three times more distinct vertebrate species than alternate approaches. Conclusions/Significance Incorporating costs in a return on investment framework expands priorities to include areas not traditionally highlighted as priorities based on conventional irreplaceability and vulnerability approaches. PMID:18231601

Big biology meets microclimatology: defining thermal niches of ectotherms at landscape scales for conservation planning.

PubMed

Isaak, Daniel J; Wenger, Seth J; Young, Michael K

2017-04-01

Temperature profoundly affects ecology, a fact ever more evident as the ability to measure thermal environments increases and global changes alter these environments. The spatial structure of thermalscapes is especially relevant to the distribution and abundance of ectothermic organisms, but the ability to describe biothermal relationships at extents and grains relevant to conservation planning has been limited by small or sparse data sets. Here, we combine a large occurrence database of >23 000 aquatic species surveys with stream microclimate scenarios supported by an equally large temperature database for a 149 000-km mountain stream network to describe thermal relationships for 14 fish and amphibian species. Species occurrence probabilities peaked across a wide range of temperatures (7.0-18.8°C) but distinct warm- or cold-edge distribution boundaries were apparent for all species and represented environments where populations may be most sensitive to thermal changes. Warm-edge boundary temperatures for a native species of conservation concern were used with geospatial data sets and a habitat occupancy model to highlight subsets of the network where conservation measures could benefit local populations by maintaining cool temperatures. Linking that strategic approach to local estimates of habitat impairment remains a key challenge but is also an opportunity to build relationships and develop synergies between the research, management, and regulatory communities. As with any data mining or species distribution modeling exercise, care is required in analysis and interpretation of results, but the use of large biological data sets with accurate microclimate scenarios can provide valuable information about the thermal ecology of many ectotherms and a spatially explicit way of guiding conservation investments. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.

Selection of Phototransduction Genes in Homo sapiens.

PubMed

Christopher, Mark; Scheetz, Todd E; Mullins, Robert F; Abràmoff, Michael D

2013-08-13

We investigated the evidence of recent positive selection in the human phototransduction system at single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and gene level. SNP genotyping data from the International HapMap Project for European, Eastern Asian, and African populations was used to discover differences in haplotype length and allele frequency between these populations. Numeric selection metrics were computed for each SNP and aggregated into gene-level metrics to measure evidence of recent positive selection. The level of recent positive selection in phototransduction genes was evaluated and compared to a set of genes shown previously to be under recent selection, and a set of highly conserved genes as positive and negative controls, respectively. Six of 20 phototransduction genes evaluated had gene-level selection metrics above the 90th percentile: RGS9, GNB1, RHO, PDE6G, GNAT1, and SLC24A1. The selection signal across these genes was found to be of similar magnitude to the positive control genes and much greater than the negative control genes. There is evidence for selective pressure in the genes involved in retinal phototransduction, and traces of this selective pressure can be demonstrated using SNP-level and gene-level metrics of allelic variation. We hypothesize that the selective pressure on these genes was related to their role in low light vision and retinal adaptation to ambient light changes. Uncovering the underlying genetics of evolutionary adaptations in phototransduction not only allows greater understanding of vision and visual diseases, but also the development of patient-specific diagnostic and intervention strategies.

The Nature Conservancy's Gulf Wings Project – A Case Study in Conservation Planning for Migratory Birds

Treesearch

Charles Duncan; Becky Abel; Danny Kwan; David Mehlman

2005-01-01

The Nature Conservancy has adopted a framework for mission success called Conservation by Design. We plan at the ecoregional level to define conservation targets and the portfolio of sites needed to protect them. We consider threats and strategies for abating them at these key sites, and we define measures of success to hold ourselves accountable. Migratory birds...

Field evidence that ecosystem service projects support biodiversity and diversify options.

PubMed

Goldman, Rebecca L; Tallis, Heather; Kareiva, Peter; Daily, Gretchen C

2008-07-08

Ecosystem service approaches to conservation are being championed as a new strategy for conservation, under the hypothesis that they will broaden and deepen support for biodiversity protection. Where traditional approaches focus on setting aside land by purchasing property rights, ecosystem service approaches aim to engage a much wider range of places, people, policies, and financial resources in conservation. This is particularly important given projected intensification of human impacts, with rapid growth in population size and individual aspirations. Here we use field research on 34 ecosystem service (ES) projects and 26 traditional biodiversity (BD) projects from the Western Hemisphere to test whether ecosystem service approaches show signs of realizing their putative potential. We find that the ES projects attract on average more than four times as much funding through greater corporate sponsorship and use of a wider variety of finance tools than BD projects. ES projects are also more likely to encompass working landscapes and the people in them. We also show that, despite previous concern, ES projects not only expand opportunities for conservation, but they are no less likely than BD projects to include or create protected areas. Moreover, they do not draw down limited financial resources for conservation but rather engage a more diverse set of funders. We also found, however, that monitoring of conservation outcomes in both cases is so infrequent that it is impossible to assess the effectiveness of either ES or BD approaches.

Field evidence that ecosystem service projects support biodiversity and diversify options

PubMed Central

Goldman, Rebecca L.; Tallis, Heather; Kareiva, Peter; Daily, Gretchen C.

2008-01-01

Ecosystem service approaches to conservation are being championed as a new strategy for conservation, under the hypothesis that they will broaden and deepen support for biodiversity protection. Where traditional approaches focus on setting aside land by purchasing property rights, ecosystem service approaches aim to engage a much wider range of places, people, policies, and financial resources in conservation. This is particularly important given projected intensification of human impacts, with rapid growth in population size and individual aspirations. Here we use field research on 34 ecosystem service (ES) projects and 26 traditional biodiversity (BD) projects from the Western Hemisphere to test whether ecosystem service approaches show signs of realizing their putative potential. We find that the ES projects attract on average more than four times as much funding through greater corporate sponsorship and use of a wider variety of finance tools than BD projects. ES projects are also more likely to encompass working landscapes and the people in them. We also show that, despite previous concern, ES projects not only expand opportunities for conservation, but they are no less likely than BD projects to include or create protected areas. Moreover, they do not draw down limited financial resources for conservation but rather engage a more diverse set of funders. We also found, however, that monitoring of conservation outcomes in both cases is so infrequent that it is impossible to assess the effectiveness of either ES or BD approaches. PMID:18591667

Planning tiger recovery: Understanding intraspecific variation for effective conservation

PubMed Central

Wilting, Andreas; Courtiol, Alexandre; Christiansen, Per; Niedballa, Jürgen; Scharf, Anne K.; Orlando, Ludovic; Balkenhol, Niko; Hofer, Heribert; Kramer-Schadt, Stephanie; Fickel, Jörns; Kitchener, Andrew C.

2015-01-01

Although significantly more money is spent on the conservation of tigers than on any other threatened species, today only 3200 to 3600 tigers roam the forests of Asia, occupying only 7% of their historical range. Despite the global significance of and interest in tiger conservation, global approaches to plan tiger recovery are partly impeded by the lack of a consensus on the number of tiger subspecies or management units, because a comprehensive analysis of tiger variation is lacking. We analyzed variation among all nine putative tiger subspecies, using extensive data sets of several traits [morphological (craniodental and pelage), ecological, molecular]. Our analyses revealed little variation and large overlaps in each trait among putative subspecies, and molecular data showed extremely low diversity because of a severe Late Pleistocene population decline. Our results support recognition of only two subspecies: the Sunda tiger, Panthera tigris sondaica, and the continental tiger, Panthera tigris tigris, which consists of two (northern and southern) management units. Conservation management programs, such as captive breeding, reintroduction initiatives, or trans-boundary projects, rely on a durable, consistent characterization of subspecies as taxonomic units, defined by robust multiple lines of scientific evidence rather than single traits or ad hoc descriptions of one or few specimens. Our multiple-trait data set supports a fundamental rethinking of the conventional tiger taxonomy paradigm, which will have profound implications for the management of in situ and ex situ tiger populations and boost conservation efforts by facilitating a pragmatic approach to tiger conservation management worldwide. PMID:26601191

Academic research training for a nonacademic workplace: a case study of graduate student alumni who work in conservation.

PubMed

Muir, Matthew J; Schwartz, Mark W

2009-12-01

Graduate education in conservation biology has been assailed as ineffective and inadequate to train the professionals needed to solve conservation problems. To identify how graduate education might better fit the needs of the conservation workplace, we surveyed practitioners and academics about the importance of particular skills on the job and the perceived importance of teaching those same skills in graduate school. All survey participants (n = 189) were alumni from the University of California Davis Graduate Group in Ecology and received thesis-based degrees from 1973 to 2008. Academic and practitioner respondents clearly differed in workplace skills, although there was considerably more agreement in training recommendations. On the basis of participant responses, skill sets particularly at risk of underemphasis in graduate programs are decision making and implementation of policy, whereas research skills may be overemphasized. Practitioners in different job positions, however, require a variety of skill sets, and we suggest that ever-increasing calls to broaden training to fit this multitude of jobs will lead to a trade-off in the teaching of other skills. Some skills, such as program management, may be best developed in on-the-job training or collaborative projects. We argue that the problem of graduate education in conservation will not be solved by restructuring academia alone. Conservation employers need to communicate their specific needs to educators, universities need to be more flexible with their opportunities, and students need to be better consumers of the skills offered by universities and other institutions.

Planning tiger recovery: Understanding intraspecific variation for effective conservation.

PubMed

Wilting, Andreas; Courtiol, Alexandre; Christiansen, Per; Niedballa, Jürgen; Scharf, Anne K; Orlando, Ludovic; Balkenhol, Niko; Hofer, Heribert; Kramer-Schadt, Stephanie; Fickel, Jörns; Kitchener, Andrew C

2015-06-01

Although significantly more money is spent on the conservation of tigers than on any other threatened species, today only 3200 to 3600 tigers roam the forests of Asia, occupying only 7% of their historical range. Despite the global significance of and interest in tiger conservation, global approaches to plan tiger recovery are partly impeded by the lack of a consensus on the number of tiger subspecies or management units, because a comprehensive analysis of tiger variation is lacking. We analyzed variation among all nine putative tiger subspecies, using extensive data sets of several traits [morphological (craniodental and pelage), ecological, molecular]. Our analyses revealed little variation and large overlaps in each trait among putative subspecies, and molecular data showed extremely low diversity because of a severe Late Pleistocene population decline. Our results support recognition of only two subspecies: the Sunda tiger, Panthera tigris sondaica, and the continental tiger, Panthera tigris tigris, which consists of two (northern and southern) management units. Conservation management programs, such as captive breeding, reintroduction initiatives, or trans-boundary projects, rely on a durable, consistent characterization of subspecies as taxonomic units, defined by robust multiple lines of scientific evidence rather than single traits or ad hoc descriptions of one or few specimens. Our multiple-trait data set supports a fundamental rethinking of the conventional tiger taxonomy paradigm, which will have profound implications for the management of in situ and ex situ tiger populations and boost conservation efforts by facilitating a pragmatic approach to tiger conservation management worldwide.

Multi-scale environmental accounting: methodological lessons from the application of NAMEA at sub-national levels.

PubMed

Dalmazzone, Silvana; La Notte, Alessandra

2013-11-30

Extending the application of integrated environmental and economic accounts from the national to the local level of government serves several purposes. They can be used not only as an instrument for communicating on the state of the environment and reporting the results of policies, but also as an operational tool - for setting the objectives and designing policies - if made available to the local authorities who have responsibility over the administration of natural resources, land use and conservation policies. The aim of the paper is to test the feasibility of applying hybrid flow accounts at the intermediate and local government levels. As an illustration, NAMEA for air emissions and wastes is applied to a Region, a Province and a Municipality, thus covering the three nested levels of local government in Italy. The study identifies the main issues raised by multi-scale environmental accounting and provides an applied discussion of feasible solutions. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Did the notochord evolve from an ancient axial muscle? The axochord hypothesis.

PubMed

Brunet, Thibaut; Lauri, Antonella; Arendt, Detlev

2015-08-01

The origin of the notochord is one of the key remaining mysteries of our evolutionary ancestry. Here, we present a multi-level comparison of the chordate notochord to the axochord, a paired axial muscle spanning the ventral midline of annelid worms and other invertebrates. At the cellular level, comparative molecular profiling in the marine annelids P. dumerilii and C. teleta reveals expression of similar, specific gene sets in presumptive axochordal and notochordal cells. These cells also occupy corresponding positions in a conserved anatomical topology and undergo similar morphogenetic movements. At the organ level, a detailed comparison of bilaterian musculatures reveals that most phyla form axochord-like muscles, suggesting that such a muscle was already present in urbilaterian ancestors. Integrating comparative evidence at the cell and organ level, we propose that the notochord evolved by modification of a ventromedian muscle followed by the assembly of an axial complex supporting swimming in vertebrate ancestors. © 2015 The Authors. Bioessays published by WILEY Periodicals, Inc.

Genetic differences between blood- and brain-derived viral sequences from human immunodeficiency virus type 1-infected patients: evidence of conserved elements in the V3 region of the envelope protein of brain-derived sequences.

PubMed Central

Korber, B T; Kunstman, K J; Patterson, B K; Furtado, M; McEvilly, M M; Levy, R; Wolinsky, S M

1994-01-01

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) sequences were generated from blood and from brain tissue obtained by stereotactic biopsy from six patients undergoing a diagnostic neurosurgical procedure. Proviral DNA was directly amplified by nested PCR, and 8 to 36 clones from each sample were sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis of intrapatient envelope V3-V5 region HIV-1 DNA sequence sets revealed that brain viral sequences were clustered relative to the blood viral sequences, suggestive of tissue-specific compartmentalization of the virus in four of the six cases. In the other two cases, the blood and brain virus sequences were intermingled in the phylogenetic analyses, suggesting trafficking of virus between the two tissues. Slide-based PCR-driven in situ hybridization of two of the patients' brain biopsy samples confirmed our interpretation of the intrapatient phylogenetic analyses. Interpatient V3 region brain-derived sequence distances were significantly less than blood-derived sequence distances. Relative to the tip of the loop, the set of brain-derived viral sequences had a tendency towards negative or neutral charge compared with the set of blood-derived viral sequences. Entropy calculations were used as a measure of the variability at each position in alignments of blood and brain viral sequences. A relatively conserved set of positions were found, with a significantly lower entropy in the brain-than in the blood-derived viral sequences. These sites constitute a brain "signature pattern," or a noncontiguous set of amino acids in the V3 region conserved in viral sequences derived from brain tissue. This brain-derived signature pattern was also well preserved among isolates previously characterized in vitro as macrophage tropic. Macrophage-monocyte tropism may be the biological constraint that results in the conservation of the viral brain signature pattern. Images PMID:7933130

Identifying water price and population criteria for meeting future urban water demand targets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ashoori, Negin; Dzombak, David A.; Small, Mitchell J.

2017-12-01

Predictive models for urban water demand can help identify the set of factors that must be satisfied in order to meet future targets for water demand. Some of the explanatory variables used in such models, such as service area population and changing temperature and rainfall rates, are outside the immediate control of water planners and managers. Others, such as water pricing and the intensity of voluntary water conservation efforts, are subject to decisions and programs implemented by the water utility. In order to understand this relationship, a multiple regression model fit to 44 years of monthly demand data (1970-2014) for Los Angeles, California was applied to predict possible future demand through 2050 under alternative scenarios for the explanatory variables: population, price, voluntary conservation efforts, and temperature and precipitation outcomes predicted by four global climate models with two CO2 emission scenarios. Future residential water demand in Los Angeles is projected to be largely driven by price and population rather than climate change and conservation. A median projection for the year 2050 indicates that residential water demand in Los Angeles will increase by approximately 36 percent, to a level of 620 million m3 per year. The Monte Carlo simulations of the fitted model for water demand were then used to find the set of conditions in the future for which water demand is predicted to be above or below the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power 2035 goal to reduce residential water demand by 25%. Results indicate that increases in price can not ensure that the 2035 water demand target can be met when population increases. Los Angeles must rely on furthering their conservation initiatives and increasing their use of stormwater capture, recycled water, and expanding their groundwater storage. The forecasting approach developed in this study can be utilized by other cities to understand the future of water demand in water-stressed areas. Improving water demand forecasts will help planners understand and optimize future investments in water supply infrastructure and related programs.

Intra-operative cell salvage in urological surgery; a systematic review and meta-analysis of comparative studies.

PubMed

Kinnear, Ned; O'Callaghan, Michael; Hennessey, Derek; Liddell, Heath; Newell, Bradley; Bolt, John; Lawrentschuk, Nathan

2018-05-03

To systematically evaluate the safety and efficacy of intra-operative cell salvage (ICS) in urology. A search of Medline, Embase and Cochrane Library to August 2017 was performed using methods pre-published on PROSPERO. Reporting followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis guidelines. Eligible titles were comparative studies published in English utilising ICS in urology. Primary outcomes were allogeneic transfusion rates (ATR) and tumour recurrence. Secondary outcomes were complications and cost. Fourteen observational studies were identified, totaling 4,536 patients. ICS was compared to no blood conservation technique (seven studies), pre-operative autologous donation (PAD) (five) or both (two). Cohorts underwent open prostatectomy (eleven studies), open cystectomy (two) or open partial nephrectomy (one). Meta-analysis was possible only for ATR within prostatectomy studies. In this setting, ICS reduced ATR compared with no blood conservation technique (OR 0.34, 95% CI 0.15-0.76) but not PAD (OR 0.76, 95% CI 0.39-1.31). In the non-prostatectomy setting, ATR amongst ICS patients was significantly higher or similar in one and two studies respectively. Tumour recurrence was found to be significantly less common (two studies), similar (eight) or not measured (four). All six studies reporting complications found no difference for ICS cohorts. Regarding cost, one study from 1995 found ICS more expensive than PAD, while two more recent studies found ICS cheaper than no blood conservation technique. Due to inter-study heterogeneity, meta-analyses were not possible for recurrence, complications or cost. Low level evidence exists that compared with other blood conservation techniques, ICS reduces ATR and cost while not affecting complications. It does not appear to increase tumour recurrence post-prostatectomy, although follow-up durations are short. Small size and short follow-up negate conclusions on recurrence following nephrectomy or cystectomy. Randomised trials with long term follow-up evaluating ICS in urology are required. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Achieving full connectivity of sites in the multiperiod reserve network design problem

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jafari, Nahid; Nuse, Bryan L.; Moore, Clinton; Dilkina, Bistra; Hepinstall-Cymerman, Jeffrey

2017-01-01

The conservation reserve design problem is a challenge to solve because of the spatial and temporal nature of the problem, uncertainties in the decision process, and the possibility of alternative conservation actions for any given land parcel. Conservation agencies tasked with reserve design may benefit from a dynamic decision system that provides tactical guidance for short-term decision opportunities while maintaining focus on a long-term objective of assembling the best set of protected areas possible. To plan cost-effective conservation over time under time-varying action costs and budget, we propose a multi-period mixed integer programming model for the budget-constrained selection of fully connected sites. The objective is to maximize a summed conservation value over all network parcels at the end of the planning horizon. The originality of this work is in achieving full spatial connectivity of the selected sites during the schedule of conservation actions.

Marker genes that are less conserved in their sequences are useful for predicting genome-wide similarity levels between closely related prokaryotic strains

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lan, Yemin; Rosen, Gail; Hershberg, Ruth

The 16s rRNA gene is so far the most widely used marker for taxonomical classification and separation of prokaryotes. Since it is universally conserved among prokaryotes, it is possible to use this gene to classify a broad range of prokaryotic organisms. At the same time, it has often been noted that the 16s rRNA gene is too conserved to separate between prokaryotes at finer taxonomic levels. In this paper, we examine how well levels of similarity of 16s rRNA and 73 additional universal or nearly universal marker genes correlate with genome-wide levels of gene sequence similarity. We demonstrate that themore » percent identity of 16s rRNA predicts genome-wide levels of similarity very well for distantly related prokaryotes, but not for closely related ones. In closely related prokaryotes, we find that there are many other marker genes for which levels of similarity are much more predictive of genome-wide levels of gene sequence similarity. Finally, we show that the identities of the markers that are most useful for predicting genome-wide levels of similarity within closely related prokaryotic lineages vary greatly between lineages. However, the most useful markers are always those that are least conserved in their sequences within each lineage. In conclusion, our results show that by choosing markers that are less conserved in their sequences within a lineage of interest, it is possible to better predict genome-wide gene sequence similarity between closely related prokaryotes than is possible using the 16s rRNA gene. We point readers towards a database we have created (POGO-DB) that can be used to easily establish which markers show lowest levels of sequence conservation within different prokaryotic lineages.« less

Marker genes that are less conserved in their sequences are useful for predicting genome-wide similarity levels between closely related prokaryotic strains

DOE PAGES

Lan, Yemin; Rosen, Gail; Hershberg, Ruth

2016-05-03

The 16s rRNA gene is so far the most widely used marker for taxonomical classification and separation of prokaryotes. Since it is universally conserved among prokaryotes, it is possible to use this gene to classify a broad range of prokaryotic organisms. At the same time, it has often been noted that the 16s rRNA gene is too conserved to separate between prokaryotes at finer taxonomic levels. In this paper, we examine how well levels of similarity of 16s rRNA and 73 additional universal or nearly universal marker genes correlate with genome-wide levels of gene sequence similarity. We demonstrate that themore » percent identity of 16s rRNA predicts genome-wide levels of similarity very well for distantly related prokaryotes, but not for closely related ones. In closely related prokaryotes, we find that there are many other marker genes for which levels of similarity are much more predictive of genome-wide levels of gene sequence similarity. Finally, we show that the identities of the markers that are most useful for predicting genome-wide levels of similarity within closely related prokaryotic lineages vary greatly between lineages. However, the most useful markers are always those that are least conserved in their sequences within each lineage. In conclusion, our results show that by choosing markers that are less conserved in their sequences within a lineage of interest, it is possible to better predict genome-wide gene sequence similarity between closely related prokaryotes than is possible using the 16s rRNA gene. We point readers towards a database we have created (POGO-DB) that can be used to easily establish which markers show lowest levels of sequence conservation within different prokaryotic lineages.« less

Turning Minds On and Faucets Off: Water Conservation Education in Jordanian Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Middlestadt, Susan; Grieser, Mona; Hernandez, Orlando; Tubaishat, Khulood; Sanchack, Julie; Southwell, Brian; Schwartz, Reva

2001-01-01

An evaluation was conducted to measure the impact of a curriculum implemented through the Jordan Water Conservation Education Project. Examines the effect of recommending water conservation at the household level and the impact of using interactive teaching methods to promote conservation behaviors among students and their families. (Author/SAH)

The mitochondrial genome of Globodera ellingtonae is composed of two circles with segregated gene content and differential copy numbers

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The evolution of animal mitochondrial (mt) genomes has yielded a highly conserved structure: a single circular chromosome approximately 14 to 20 kb long. Within the last two decades, exceptions to this conserved structure have been reported in a diverse set of organisms. One such exception is the di...

Going Green Doesn't Have to Be Sexy: Lakeland Community College's Practical Approach to Addressing Energy Conservation and Sustainability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mayher, Michael E.

2010-01-01

Lakeland Community College is recognized for its energy conservation leadership in Ohio and nationally. The college's program will detail the practical, incremental approach taken in Lakeland's "Energy Journey." Setting the standard statewide, that journey recently resulted in a sustainable, guaranteed reduction of energy use by 40%.

Priority setting for government investment in forestry conservation schemes-an example from New Zealand

Treesearch

Colin L. O' Loughlin

1991-01-01

In New Zealand responsibility for funding flood protection and erosion prevention and control projects rests largely with local regional authorities. However, in 1988 Central Government decided to provide direct funding for a major forestry conservation scheme in the erosion-susceptible East Coast region. Government's investment decision was influenced by a number...

Riparian reference areas in Idaho: A catalog of plant associations and conservation sites

Treesearch

Mabel Jankovsky-Jones; Steven K. Rust; Robert K. Moseley

1999-01-01

Idaho land managers and regulators need knowledge on riparian reference sites. Reference sites are ecological controls that can be used to set meaningful management and regulatory goals. Since 1984, the Idaho Conservation Data Center, Boise, ID, has compiled information in a series of interrelated databases on the distribution and condition of riparian, wetland, and...

Using Scientific Information to Develop Management Strategies for Commercial Redwood Timberlands

Treesearch

Jeffrey C. Barrett

2007-01-01

In 1999, PALCO (Pacific Lumber Company), a private landowner, and the state and federal governments agreed to implement a unique Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) on 89,000 hectares of commercial redwood and Douglas-fir timberlands in Humboldt County, California. The aquatics portion of the PALCO HCP contains a set of "interim" conservation strategies developed...

An interactive database for setting conservation priorities for western neotropical migrants

Treesearch

Michael F. Carter; Keith Barker

1993-01-01

We develop and explain a species ranking system for the states and physiographic regions of the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Program's West Working Group. The ranking criteria attempt to measure characteristics of species which make them vulnerable to extirpation, as well as assess the relative importance of different geographic and/or political areas...

18 CFR 1b.9 - Confidentiality of investigations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Confidentiality of investigations. 1b.9 Section 1b.9 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION... Freedom of Information Act disclosure are set forth in 18 CFR part 3b and § 1b.20. A request for...

18 CFR 1b.9 - Confidentiality of investigations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Confidentiality of investigations. 1b.9 Section 1b.9 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION... Freedom of Information Act disclosure are set forth in 18 CFR part 3b and § 1b.20. A request for...

18 CFR 1b.9 - Confidentiality of investigations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Confidentiality of investigations. 1b.9 Section 1b.9 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION... Freedom of Information Act disclosure are set forth in 18 CFR part 3b and § 1b.20. A request for...

18 CFR 1b.9 - Confidentiality of investigations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Confidentiality of investigations. 1b.9 Section 1b.9 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION... Freedom of Information Act disclosure are set forth in 18 CFR part 3b and § 1b.20. A request for...

The Conservation Efforts Database: Improving our knowledge of landscape conservation actions

USGS Publications Warehouse

Heller, Matthew M.; Welty, Justin; Wiechman , Lief A.

2017-01-01

The Conservation Efforts Database (CED) is a secure, cloud-based tool that can be used to document and track conservation actions across landscapes. A recently released factsheet describes this tool ahead of the rollout of CED version 2.0. The CED was developed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the USGS, and the Great Northern Landscape Conservation Cooperative to support the 2015 Endangered Species Act status review for greater sage-grouse. Currently, the CED accepts policy-level data, such as Land Use Plans, and treatment level data, such as conifer removals and post-fire recovery efforts, as custom spatial and non-spatial records. In addition to a species assessment tool, the CED can also be used to summarize the extent of restoration efforts within a specific area or to strategically site conservation actions based on the location of other implemented actions. The CED can be an important tool, along with post-conservation monitoring, for implementing landscape-scale adaptive management.

Topographic and fire weather controls of fire refugia in forested ecosystems of northwestern North America

USGS Publications Warehouse

Krawchuk, Meg A.; Haire, Sandra L.; Coop, Jonathan D.; Parisien, Marc-Andre; Whitman, Ellen; Chong, Geneva W.; Miller, Carol

2016-01-01

for seven study fires that burned in conifer-dominated forested landscapes of the Western Cordillera of Canada between 2001 and 2014. We fit nine models, each for distinct levels of fire weather and terrain ruggedness. Our framework revealed that the predictability and abundance of fire refugia varied among these environmental settings. We observed highest predictability under moderate fire weather conditions and moderate terrain ruggedness (ROC-AUC = 0.77), and lowest predictability in flatter landscapes and under high fire weather conditions (ROC-AUC = 0.63–0.68). Catchment slope, local aspect, relative position, topographic wetness, topographic convergence, and local slope all contributed to discriminating where refugia occur but the relative importance of these topographic controls differed among environments. Our framework allows us to characterize the predictability of contemporary fire refugia across multiple environmental settings and provides important insights for ecosystem resilience, wildfire management, conservation planning, and climate change adaptation.

Fabrication of cermet bearings for the control system of a high temperature lithium cooled nuclear reactor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yacobucci, H. G.; Heestand, R. L.; Kizer, D. E.

1973-01-01

The techniques used to fabricate cermet bearings for the fueled control drums of a liquid metal cooled reference-design reactor concept are presented. The bearings were designed for operation in lithium for as long as 5 years at temperatures to 1205 C. Two sets of bearings were fabricated from a hafnium carbide - 8-wt. % molybdenum - 2-wt. % niobium carbide cermet, and two sets were fabricated from a hafnium nitride - 10-wt. % tungsten cermet. Procedures were developed for synthesizing the material in high purity inert-atmosphere glove boxes to minimize oxygen content in order to enhance corrosion resistance. Techniques were developed for pressing cylindrical billets to conserve materials and to reduce machining requirements. Finishing was accomplished by a combination of diamond grinding, electrodischarge machining, and diamond lapping. Samples were characterized in respect to composition, impurity level, lattice parameter, microstructure and density.

Mapping Biodiversity and Setting Conservation Priorities for SE Queensland’s Rainforests Using DNA Barcoding

PubMed Central

Shapcott, Alison; Forster, Paul I.; Guymer, Gordon P.; McDonald, William J. F.; Faith, Daniel P.; Erickson, David; Kress, W. John

2015-01-01

Australian rainforests have been fragmented due to past climatic changes and more recently landscape change as a result of clearing for agriculture and urban spread. The subtropical rainforests of South Eastern Queensland are significantly more fragmented than the tropical World Heritage listed northern rainforests and are subject to much greater human population pressures. The Australian rainforest flora is relatively taxonomically rich at the family level, but less so at the species level. Current methods to assess biodiversity based on species numbers fail to adequately capture this richness at higher taxonomic levels. We developed a DNA barcode library for the SE Queensland rainforest flora to support a methodology for biodiversity assessment that incorporates both taxonomic diversity and phylogenetic relationships. We placed our SE Queensland phylogeny based on a three marker DNA barcode within a larger international rainforest barcode library and used this to calculate phylogenetic diversity (PD). We compared phylo- diversity measures, species composition and richness and ecosystem diversity of the SE Queensland rainforest estate to identify which bio subregions contain the greatest rainforest biodiversity, subregion relationships and their level of protection. We identified areas of highest conservation priority. Diversity was not correlated with rainforest area in SE Queensland subregions but PD was correlated with both the percent of the subregion occupied by rainforest and the diversity of regional ecosystems (RE) present. The patterns of species diversity and phylogenetic diversity suggest a strong influence of historical biogeography. Some subregions contain significantly more PD than expected by chance, consistent with the concept of refugia, while others were significantly phylogenetically clustered, consistent with recent range expansions. PMID:25803607

Mapping biodiversity and setting conservation priorities for SE Queensland's rainforests using DNA barcoding.

PubMed

Shapcott, Alison; Forster, Paul I; Guymer, Gordon P; McDonald, William J F; Faith, Daniel P; Erickson, David; Kress, W John

2015-01-01

Australian rainforests have been fragmented due to past climatic changes and more recently landscape change as a result of clearing for agriculture and urban spread. The subtropical rainforests of South Eastern Queensland are significantly more fragmented than the tropical World Heritage listed northern rainforests and are subject to much greater human population pressures. The Australian rainforest flora is relatively taxonomically rich at the family level, but less so at the species level. Current methods to assess biodiversity based on species numbers fail to adequately capture this richness at higher taxonomic levels. We developed a DNA barcode library for the SE Queensland rainforest flora to support a methodology for biodiversity assessment that incorporates both taxonomic diversity and phylogenetic relationships. We placed our SE Queensland phylogeny based on a three marker DNA barcode within a larger international rainforest barcode library and used this to calculate phylogenetic diversity (PD). We compared phylo- diversity measures, species composition and richness and ecosystem diversity of the SE Queensland rainforest estate to identify which bio subregions contain the greatest rainforest biodiversity, subregion relationships and their level of protection. We identified areas of highest conservation priority. Diversity was not correlated with rainforest area in SE Queensland subregions but PD was correlated with both the percent of the subregion occupied by rainforest and the diversity of regional ecosystems (RE) present. The patterns of species diversity and phylogenetic diversity suggest a strong influence of historical biogeography. Some subregions contain significantly more PD than expected by chance, consistent with the concept of refugia, while others were significantly phylogenetically clustered, consistent with recent range expansions.

Exploiting the hidden symmetry of spinning black holes: conservation laws and numerical tests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Witzany, Vojtěch

2018-01-01

The Kerr black hole is stationary and axisymmetric, which leads to conservation of energy and azimuthal angular momentum along the orbits of free test particles in its vicinity, but also to conservation laws for the evolution of continuum matter fields. However, the Kerr space-time possesses an additional 'hidden symmetry', which exhibits itself in an unexpected conserved quantity along geodesics known as the Carter constant. We investigate the possibility of using this hidden symmetry to obtain conservation laws and other identities that could be used to test astrophysical simulations of the evolution of matter fields near spinning black holes. After deriving such identities, we set up a simple numerical toy model on which we demonstrate how they can detect the violations of evolution equations in a numerical simulation. Even though one of the expressions we derive is in the form of a conservation law, we end up recommending an equivalent but simpler expression that is not in the form of a conservation law for practical implementation.

10 CFR 430.32 - Energy and water conservation standards and their effective dates.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

...) Compact Dishwasher (capacity less than eight place settings plus six serving pieces as specified in ANSI... settings plus six serving pieces as specified in ANSI/AHAM DW-1 [Incorporated by Reference, see § 430.22...

Incorporating threat in hotspots and coldspots of biodiversity and ecosystem services.

PubMed

Schröter, Matthias; Kraemer, Roland; Ceauşu, Silvia; Rusch, Graciela M

2017-11-01

Spatial prioritization could help target conservation actions directed to maintain both biodiversity and ecosystem services. We delineate hotspots and coldspots of two biodiversity conservation features and five regulating and cultural services by incorporating an indicator of 'threat', i.e. timber harvest profitability for forest areas in Telemark (Norway). We found hotspots, where high values of biodiversity, ecosystem services and threat coincide, ranging from 0.1 to 7.1% of the area, depending on varying threshold levels. Targeting of these areas for conservation follows reactive conservation approaches. In coldspots, high biodiversity and ecosystem service values coincide with low levels of threat, and cover 0.1-3.4% of the forest area. These areas might serve proactive conservation approaches at lower opportunity cost (foregone timber harvest profits). We conclude that a combination of indicators of biodiversity, ecosystem services and potential threat is an appropriate approach for spatial prioritization of proactive and reactive conservation strategies.

A Comparison of the Wellbeing of Orphans and Abandoned Children Ages 6–12 in Institutional and Community-Based Care Settings in 5 Less Wealthy Nations

PubMed Central

Whetten, Kathryn; Ostermann, Jan; Whetten, Rachel A.; Pence, Brian W.; O'Donnell, Karen; Messer, Lynne C.; Thielman, Nathan M.

2009-01-01

Background Leaders are struggling to care for the estimated 143,000,000 orphans and millions more abandoned children worldwide. Global policy makers are advocating that institution-living orphans and abandoned children (OAC) be moved as quickly as possible to a residential family setting and that institutional care be used as a last resort. This analysis tests the hypothesis that institutional care for OAC aged 6–12 is associated with worse health and wellbeing than community residential care using conservative two-tail tests. Methodology The Positive Outcomes for Orphans (POFO) study employed two-stage random sampling survey methodology in 6 sites across 5 countries to identify 1,357 institution-living and 1,480 community-living OAC ages 6–12, 658 of whom were double-orphans or abandoned by both biological parents. Survey analytic techniques were used to compare cognitive functioning, emotion, behavior, physical health, and growth. Linear mixed-effects models were used to estimate the proportion of variability in child outcomes attributable to the study site, care setting, and child levels and institutional versus community care settings. Conservative analyses limited the community living children to double-orphans or abandoned children. Principal Findings Health, emotional and cognitive functioning, and physical growth were no worse for institution-living than community-living OAC, and generally better than for community-living OAC cared for by persons other than a biological parent. Differences between study sites explained 2–23% of the total variability in child outcomes, while differences between care settings within sites explained 8–21%. Differences among children within care settings explained 64–87%. After adjusting for sites, age, and gender, institution vs. community-living explained only 0.3–7% of the variability in child outcomes. Conclusion This study does not support the hypothesis that institutional care is systematically associated with poorer wellbeing than community care for OAC aged 6–12 in those countries facing the greatest OAC burden. Much greater variability among children within care settings was observed than among care settings type. Methodologically rigorous studies must be conducted in those countries facing the new OAC epidemic in order to understand which characteristics of care promote child wellbeing. Such characteristics may transcend the structural definitions of institutions or family homes. PMID:20020037

Is polychaete family-level sufficient to assess impact on tropical estuarine gradients?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nóbrega-Silva, Climélia; Patrício, Joana; Marques, João Carlos; Olímpio, Monalisa dos Santos; Farias, Jéssica Natyelle Barros; Molozzi, Joseline

2016-11-01

Regular, robust monitoring programs set up to assess the environmental conditions of aquatic systems often target different biological groups. And, of these, macroinvertebrate communities and particularly the class Polychaeta are frequently used. Identifying these organisms takes time, money and specialized expertise to ensure correct identification to the lowest possible taxonomic level. Identification errors can lead to an erroneous assessment. The concept of taxonomic sufficiency has been proposed both to minimize errors and to save time and money. This study tested the usefulness of this concept in tropical estuaries in northeast Brazil. We selected two transitional systems with different degrees of human impact due to different land uses and different conservation systems: the Mamanguape estuary, which is in an environmental conservation unit for sustainable use, and the highly impacted, urban Paraíba do Norte estuary. The results clearly showed that nutrient concentrations were markedly higher in the Paraíba do Norte estuary in the dry season and that the composition of the polychaete assemblages differed between the two estuaries as well as along the spatial gradient of each estuary. The use of either genus or family level led to equivalent representation in each system in terms of taxon richness and both the Margalef and Shannon-Wiener diversity indices. Both taxonomic levels described similar changes in the polychaete assemblage along the estuarine gradients. Based on our findings, the use of a coarser taxonomic level (i.e., family) is a good option when the aim is to implement a monitoring program in tropical estuaries with the polychaete assemblages as one of the target groups. This time-efficient taxonomic resolution can help improve sampling designs and allow long-term monitoring studies without losing much vital information.

Physiology can contribute to better understanding, management, and conservation of coral reef fishes.

PubMed

Illing, Björn; Rummer, Jodie L

2017-01-01

Coral reef fishes, like many other marine organisms, are affected by anthropogenic stressors such as fishing and pollution and, owing to climate change, are experiencing increasing water temperatures and ocean acidification. Against the backdrop of these various stressors, a mechanistic understanding of processes governing individual organismal performance is the first step for identifying drivers of coral reef fish population dynamics. In fact, physiological measurements can help to reveal potential cause-and-effect relationships and enable physiologists to advise conservation management by upscaling results from cellular and individual organismal levels to population levels. Here, we highlight studies that include physiological measurements of coral reef fishes and those that give advice for their conservation. A literature search using combined physiological, conservation and coral reef fish key words resulted in ~1900 studies, of which only 99 matched predefined requirements. We observed that, over the last 20 years, the combination of physiological and conservation aspects in studies on coral reef fishes has received increased attention. Most of the selected studies made their physiological observations at the whole organism level and used their findings to give conservation advice on population dynamics, habitat use or the potential effects of climate change. The precision of the recommendations differed greatly and, not surprisingly, was least concrete when studies examined the effects of projected climate change scenarios. Although more and more physiological studies on coral reef fishes include conservation aspects, there is still a lack of concrete advice for conservation managers, with only very few published examples of physiological findings leading to improved management practices. We conclude with a call to action to foster better knowledge exchange between natural scientists and conservation managers to translate physiological findings more effectively in order to obtain evidence-based and adaptive management strategies for the conservation of coral reef fishes.

Geography of current and future global mammal extinction risk

PubMed Central

Shoemaker, Kevin T.; Weinstein, Ben; Costa, Gabriel C.; Brooks, Thomas M.; Ceballos, Gerardo; Radeloff, Volker C.; Rondinini, Carlo; Graham, Catherine H.

2017-01-01

Identifying which species are at greatest risk, what makes them vulnerable, and where they are distributed are central goals for conservation science. While knowledge of which factors influence extinction risk is increasingly available for some taxonomic groups, a deeper understanding of extinction correlates and the geography of risk remains lacking. Here, we develop a predictive random forest model using both geospatial and mammalian species’ trait data to uncover the statistical and geographic distributions of extinction correlates. We also explore how this geography of risk may change under a rapidly warming climate. We found distinctive macroecological relationships between species-level risk and extinction correlates, including the intrinsic biological traits of geographic range size, body size and taxonomy, and extrinsic geographic settings such as seasonality, habitat type, land use and human population density. Each extinction correlate exhibited ranges of values that were especially associated with risk, and the importance of different risk factors was not geographically uniform across the globe. We also found that about 10% of mammals not currently recognized as at-risk have biological traits and occur in environments that predispose them towards extinction. Southeast Asia had the most actually and potentially threatened species, underscoring the urgent need for conservation in this region. Additionally, nearly 40% of currently threatened species were predicted to experience rapid climate change at 0.5 km/year or more. Biological and environmental correlates of mammalian extinction risk exhibit distinct statistical and geographic distributions. These results provide insight into species-level patterns and processes underlying geographic variation in extinction risk. They also offer guidance for future conservation research focused on specific geographic regions, or evaluating the degree to which species-level patterns mirror spatial variation in the pressures faced by populations within the ranges of individual species. The added impacts from climate change may increase the susceptibility of at-risk species to extinction and expand the regions where mammals are most vulnerable globally. PMID:29145486

Bioaccumulation and human health risk assessment of DDT and other organochlorine pesticides in an apex aquatic predator from a premier conservation area.

PubMed

Gerber, Ruan; Smit, Nico J; Van Vuren, Johan H J; Nakayama, Shouta M M; Yohannes, Yared B; Ikenaka, Yoshinori; Ishizuka, Mayumi; Wepener, Victor

2016-04-15

With the second highest gross domestic product in Africa, South Africa is known to have a high pesticide usage, including the highly persistent and banned group of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs). South Africa is also one of few countries to still actively spray DDT as malaria vector control. The aim of the study was to determine the degree to which aquatic biota in selected rivers of the world renowned Kruger National Park (KNP) are exposed to by use of OCPs in the catchments outside the KNP and how this exposure relates to human health. Tigerfish (Hydrocynus vittatus) are economically important apex predators and was selected as bioindicator for this study. Fish were sampled from the KNP sections of the Luvuvhu, Letaba and Olifants rivers during the high and low flow periods from 2010 to 2011 within the KNP and 19 OCPs were determined in muscle tissue using GC-ECD techniques. Significant flow related and spatial OCP bioaccumulation was observed. Tigerfish from the Luvuvhu River displayed the highest OCP bioaccumulation. Concentrations of the majority of the OCPs including the DDTs were the highest levels ever recorded from South African freshwater systems and in many cases the concentrations were higher than most contaminated areas from around the world. The concentrations found in H. vittatus muscle also exceeded maximum residue levels in edible fat as set by the European Union. The health risk assessment also demonstrated that the levels of OCPs pose very high cancer risks to the local populations consuming tigerfish, as high as 2 in 10 increased risk factor. This is of concern not only when managing the water resources of the conservation area but also for surrounding communities consuming freshwater fish. Contaminants enter the park from outside the borders and pose potential risks to the mandated conservation of aquatic biota within the KNP. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evidence for a lineage of virulent bacteriophages that target Campylobacter.

PubMed

Timms, Andrew R; Cambray-Young, Joanna; Scott, Andrew E; Petty, Nicola K; Connerton, Phillippa L; Clarke, Louise; Seeger, Kathy; Quail, Mike; Cummings, Nicola; Maskell, Duncan J; Thomson, Nicholas R; Connerton, Ian F

2010-03-30

Our understanding of the dynamics of genome stability versus gene flux within bacteriophage lineages is limited. Recently, there has been a renewed interest in the use of bacteriophages as 'therapeutic' agents; a prerequisite for their use in such therapies is a thorough understanding of their genetic complement, genome stability and their ecology to avoid the dissemination or mobilisation of phage or bacterial virulence and toxin genes. Campylobacter, a food-borne pathogen, is one of the organisms for which the use of bacteriophage is being considered to reduce human exposure to this organism. Sequencing and genome analysis was performed for two Campylobacter bacteriophages. The genomes were extremely similar at the nucleotide level (> or = 96%) with most differences accounted for by novel insertion sequences, DNA methylases and an approximately 10 kb contiguous region of metabolic genes that were dissimilar at the sequence level but similar in gene function between the two phages. Both bacteriophages contained a large number of radical S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) genes, presumably involved in boosting host metabolism during infection, as well as evidence that many genes had been acquired from a wide range of bacterial species. Further bacteriophages, from the UK Campylobacter typing set, were screened for the presence of bacteriophage structural genes, DNA methylases, mobile genetic elements and regulatory genes identified from the genome sequences. The results indicate that many of these bacteriophages are related, with 10 out of 15 showing some relationship to the sequenced genomes. Two large virulent Campylobacter bacteriophages were found to show very high levels of sequence conservation despite separation in time and place of isolation. The bacteriophages show adaptations to their host and possess genes that may enhance Campylobacter metabolism, potentially advantaging both the bacteriophage and its host. Genetic conservation has been shown to extend to other Campylobacter bacteriophages, forming a highly conserved lineage of bacteriophages that predate upon campylobacters and indicating that highly adapted bacteriophage genomes can be stable over prolonged periods of time.

Geography of current and future global mammal extinction risk.

PubMed

Davidson, Ana D; Shoemaker, Kevin T; Weinstein, Ben; Costa, Gabriel C; Brooks, Thomas M; Ceballos, Gerardo; Radeloff, Volker C; Rondinini, Carlo; Graham, Catherine H

2017-01-01

Identifying which species are at greatest risk, what makes them vulnerable, and where they are distributed are central goals for conservation science. While knowledge of which factors influence extinction risk is increasingly available for some taxonomic groups, a deeper understanding of extinction correlates and the geography of risk remains lacking. Here, we develop a predictive random forest model using both geospatial and mammalian species' trait data to uncover the statistical and geographic distributions of extinction correlates. We also explore how this geography of risk may change under a rapidly warming climate. We found distinctive macroecological relationships between species-level risk and extinction correlates, including the intrinsic biological traits of geographic range size, body size and taxonomy, and extrinsic geographic settings such as seasonality, habitat type, land use and human population density. Each extinction correlate exhibited ranges of values that were especially associated with risk, and the importance of different risk factors was not geographically uniform across the globe. We also found that about 10% of mammals not currently recognized as at-risk have biological traits and occur in environments that predispose them towards extinction. Southeast Asia had the most actually and potentially threatened species, underscoring the urgent need for conservation in this region. Additionally, nearly 40% of currently threatened species were predicted to experience rapid climate change at 0.5 km/year or more. Biological and environmental correlates of mammalian extinction risk exhibit distinct statistical and geographic distributions. These results provide insight into species-level patterns and processes underlying geographic variation in extinction risk. They also offer guidance for future conservation research focused on specific geographic regions, or evaluating the degree to which species-level patterns mirror spatial variation in the pressures faced by populations within the ranges of individual species. The added impacts from climate change may increase the susceptibility of at-risk species to extinction and expand the regions where mammals are most vulnerable globally.

The Red Queen and the seed bank: pathogen resistance of ex situ and in situ conserved barley

PubMed Central

Jensen, Helen R; Dreiseitl, Antonín; Sadiki, Mohammed; Schoen, Daniel J

2012-01-01

Plant geneticists have proposed that the dynamic conservation of crop plants in farm environments (in situ conservation) is complementary to static conservation in seed banks (ex situ conservation) because it may help to ensure adaptation to changing conditions. Here, we test whether collections of a traditional variety of Moroccan barley (Hordeum vulgare ssp. vulgare) conserved ex situ showed differences in qualitative and quantitative resistance to the endemic fungal pathogen, Blumeria graminis f.sp. hordei, compared to collections that were continuously cultivated in situ. In detached-leaf assays for qualitative resistance, there were some significant differences between in situ and ex situ conserved collections from the same localities. Some ex situ conserved collections showed lower resistance levels, while others showed higher resistance levels than their in situ conserved counterparts. In field trials for quantitative resistance, similar results were observed, with the highest resistance observed in situ. Overall, this study identifies some cases where the Red Queen appears to drive the evolution of increased resistance in situ. However, in situ conservation does not always result in improved adaptation to pathogen virulence, suggesting a more complex evolutionary scenario, consistent with several published examples of plant–pathogen co-evolution in wild systems. PMID:25568056

Local participation in biodiversity conservation initiatives: a comparative analysis of different models in South East Mexico.

PubMed

Méndez-López, María Elena; García-Frapolli, Eduardo; Pritchard, Diana J; Sánchez González, María Consuelo; Ruiz-Mallén, Isabel; Porter-Bolland, Luciana; Reyes-Garcia, Victoria

2014-12-01

In Mexico, biodiversity conservation is primarily implemented through three schemes: 1) protected areas, 2) payment-based schemes for environmental services, and 3) community-based conservation, officially recognized in some cases as Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas. In this paper we compare levels of local participation across conservation schemes. Through a survey applied to 670 households across six communities in Southeast Mexico, we document local participation during the creation, design, and implementation of the management plan of different conservation schemes. To analyze the data, we first calculated the frequency of participation at the three different stages mentioned, then created a participation index that characterizes the presence and relative intensity of local participation for each conservation scheme. Results showed that there is a low level of local participation across all the conservation schemes explored in this study. Nonetheless, the payment for environmental services had the highest local participation while the protected areas had the least. Our findings suggest that local participation in biodiversity conservation schemes is not a predictable outcome of a specific (community-based) model, thus implying that other factors might be important in determining local participation. This has implications on future strategies that seek to encourage local involvement in conservation. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cost-effective targeting of conservation investments to reduce the northern Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone

PubMed Central

Rabotyagov, Sergey S.; Campbell, Todd D.; White, Michael; Arnold, Jeffrey G.; Atwood, Jay; Norfleet, M. Lee; Kling, Catherine L.; Gassman, Philip W.; Valcu, Adriana; Richardson, Jeffrey; Turner, R. Eugene; Rabalais, Nancy N.

2014-01-01

A seasonally occurring summer hypoxic (low oxygen) zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico is the second largest in the world. Reductions in nutrients from agricultural cropland in its watershed are needed to reduce the hypoxic zone size to the national policy goal of 5,000 km2 (as a 5-y running average) set by the national Gulf of Mexico Task Force’s Action Plan. We develop an integrated assessment model linking the water quality effects of cropland conservation investment decisions on the more than 550 agricultural subwatersheds that deliver nutrients into the Gulf with a hypoxic zone model. We use this integrated assessment model to identify the most cost-effective subwatersheds to target for cropland conservation investments. We consider targeting of the location (which subwatersheds to treat) and the extent of conservation investment to undertake (how much cropland within a subwatershed to treat). We use process models to simulate the dynamics of the effects of cropland conservation investments on nutrient delivery to the Gulf and use an evolutionary algorithm to solve the optimization problem. Model results suggest that by targeting cropland conservation investments to the most cost-effective location and extent of coverage, the Action Plan goal of 5,000 km2 can be achieved at a cost of $2.7 billion annually. A large set of cost-hypoxia tradeoffs is developed, ranging from the baseline to the nontargeted adoption of the most aggressive cropland conservation investments in all subwatersheds (estimated to reduce the hypoxic zone to less than 3,000 km2 at a cost of $5.6 billion annually). PMID:25512489

A preliminary assessment of the effectiveness of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor for protecting potential Baird's tapir (Tapirus bairdii) habitat in Southern Mexico.

PubMed

Mendoza, Eduardo; Fuller, Trevon L; Thomassen, Henri A; Buermann, Wolfgang; Ramírez-Mejía, Diana; Smith, Thomas B

2013-03-01

Baird's tapir (Tapirus bairdii) is one of the most emblematic mammals of Mesoamerica, but like other large-bodied animals, it is facing an increasing risk of extinction due primarily to habitat loss. Mexico's 'ortion of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (MBC-M) is located in one of the main strongholds for Bairds tapir. To assess the MBC-M's effectiveness for tapir conservation, we estimated the distribution of the species' potential habitat by applying 2 modelling approaches (random forest and Maxent) to a set of uncorrelated environmental variables and a 157-point presence dataset. We calculated the extent of tapir habitat in within the MBC-M and modelled new corridors and conservation areas, which we compared to the MBC-M. Moreover, we assessed deforestation patterns in the region. Twenty-seven percent of highly suitable tapir habitat occurred in protected areas, 15% in corridors and 58.3% was outside the MBC-M and associated reserves. The spatial configuration of the MBC-M was partially concordant with the modelled set of conservation areas and corridors. The main dissimilarity was that the modelled corridors traversed forests in Belize and Guatemala to connect conservation areas. Analyses of deforestation since 1993 and human population density in the vicinity of the MBC-M indicated that future conservation efforts should give particular attention to the Montes Azules-El Triunfo Corridor due to greater habitat threat. The MBC-M has a great potential to play a prominent role in the conservation of tapir habitat but there is an urgent need to implement management plans that reinforce and complement this conservation initiative. © 2012 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd, ISZS and IOZ/CAS.

Urban Water Conservation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moomaw, Ronald L.

According to its abstract, this book attempts ‘an assessment of various water conservation measures aimed at reducing residential water usage.’ Its intent is to develop a research program whose ‘ultimate goal is to engender a conservation ethic among water users and managers and develop a predictable array of conservation methodologies. …’ Professor Flack indeed has presented an excellent assessment of conservation methodologies, but I believe that the proposed research program is too limited.Following a brief introductory chapter, chapter II presents an extensive review of the water conservation literature published in the 1970's and earlier. It and chapter III, which describes Flack's systematic comparison of the technical, economic, and political aspects of each conservation methodology, are the heart of the book. Chapter IV is a brief discussion and analysis of conservation programs (with examples) that a water utility might adopt. Chapter V is essentially a pilot study of methods of assessing political and social feasibility. Finally, a set of recommendations is presented in chapter VI. All in all, this book is a nice blend of literature review and original research that deals with an important issue.

Conservation success as a function of good alignment of social and ecological structures and processes.

PubMed

Bodin, Orjan; Crona, Beatrice; Thyresson, Matilda; Golz, Anna-Lea; Tengö, Maria

2014-10-01

How to create and adjust governing institutions so that they align (fit) with complex ecosystem processes and structures across scales is an issue of increasing concern in conservation. It is argued that lack of such social-ecological fit makes governance and conservation difficult, yet progress in explicitly defining and rigorously testing what constitutes a good fit has been limited. We used a novel modeling approach and data from case studies of fishery and forest conservation to empirically test presumed relationships between conservation outcomes and certain patterns of alignment of social-ecological interdependences. Our approach made it possible to analyze conservation outcome on a systems level while also providing information on how individual actors are positioned in the complex web of social-ecological interdependencies. We found that when actors who shared resources were also socially linked, conservation at the level of the whole social-ecological system was positively affected. When the scales at which individual actors used resources and the scale at which ecological resources were interconnected to other ecological resources were aligned through tightened feedback loops, conservation outcome was better than when they were not aligned. The analysis of individual actors' positions in the web of social-ecological interdependencies was helpful in understanding why a system has a certain level of social-ecological fit. Results of analysis of positions showed that different actors contributed in very different ways to achieve a certain fit and revealed some underlying difference between the actors, for example in terms of actors' varying rights to access and use different ecological resources. © 2014 Society for Conservation Biology.

Anisotropic opinion dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neirotti, Juan

2016-07-01

We consider the process of opinion formation in a society of interacting agents, where there is a set B of socially accepted rules. In this scenario, we observed that agents, represented by simple feed-forward, adaptive neural networks, may have a conservative attitude (mostly in agreement with B ) or liberal attitude (mostly in agreement with neighboring agents) depending on how much their opinions are influenced by their peers. The topology of the network representing the interaction of the society's members is determined by a graph, where the agents' properties are defined over the vertexes and the interagent interactions are defined over the bonds. The adaptability of the agents allows us to model the formation of opinions as an online learning process, where agents learn continuously as new information becomes available to the whole society (online learning). Through the application of statistical mechanics techniques we deduced a set of differential equations describing the dynamics of the system. We observed that by slowly varying the average peer influence in such a way that the agents attitude changes from conservative to liberal and back, the average social opinion develops a hysteresis cycle. Such hysteretic behavior disappears when the variance of the social influence distribution is large enough. In all the cases studied, the change from conservative to liberal behavior is characterized by the emergence of conservative clusters, i.e., a closed knitted set of society members that follow a leader who agrees with the social status quo when the rule B is challenged.

Optimizing farm landscape by two decision-support tools for present and future: A case study in a mountainous farm of Taiwan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chou, S.; Lin, Y.

2013-12-01

Rapid expansion of agricultural land-use has been identified as the main factor degrading biodiversity. Many studies have indicated that habitat quality and connectivity for multiple species can be preserved by applying the systematic conservation planning and software programs for spatial conservation prioritizations are usually used by planners to solve conservation problems for present and future. However, each conservation software program uses different algorithms and may not be suitable or efficient for all case studies. Therefore, in this study we compared the performance of two commonly used decision-support tools, Marxan and Zonation, on identifying priority areas as reserve region for 16 bird species in the mountain area of Taiwan. The priority areas are considered as the results of the tradeoff between bird presence (biological factor) and agricultural products (economic factor). Marxan uses the minimum set approach to identify priority areas for meeting specific targets while Zonation uses the maximum coverage approach to identify priority areas given a fixed budget. Therefore, we design the scenario with the most comparable setting, which selects target-based planning as the removal rule and boundary length penalty option in zonation. The landscape composition and configuration of the simulated priority areas were further evaluated by using landscape metrics and their similarity were examined by using Spearman's rank tests. The results showed that Marxan performed more efficiently while Zonation generated the priority areas in better connectivity. As the selection of conservation programs depends on users objectives and needs for present and future, this study provides useful information on determining suitable and efficient decision-support tools for future bird conservation. Conservation maps for Zonation based on different BLP parameter. The conservation value for Zonation is based on the hierarchical solution output. (a)BLP =1000 (b)BLP =3000 (c)BLP =5000 (d)BLP =7000 Conservation maps for Marxan based on different BMP parameter. The conservation value for Marxan is based on the selection frequency. (a)BMP =2500 (b)BMP =5000 (c)BMP =7500 (d)BMP =10000

The response of earthworms (Eisenia fetida) and soil microbes to the crumb rubber material used in artificial turf fields.

PubMed

Pochron, Sharon T; Fiorenza, Andrew; Sperl, Cassandra; Ledda, Brianne; Lawrence Patterson, Charles; Tucker, Clara C; Tucker, Wade; Ho, Yuwan Lisa; Panico, Nicholas

2017-04-01

Municipalities have been replacing grass fields with artificial turf, which uses crumb rubber infill made from recycled tires. Crumb rubber contains hydrocarbons, organic compounds, and heavy metals. Water runoff from crumb rubber fields contains heavy metals. These components can damage the environment. We contaminated topsoil with new crumb rubber and measured its impact on earthworms and soil microbes. Specifically, we compared soil microbe activity and earthworm health, survivorship, and longevity in heat and light stress under two soil regimes: clean topsoil and clean topsoil contaminated with crumb rubber. We then characterized levels of metals, nutrients, and micronutrients of both soil treatments and compared those to published New York soil background levels and to levels set by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) as remediation goals. We found that: 1) contaminated soil did not inhibit microbial respiration rates, 2) earthworm survivorship was not impacted by exposure to contaminated soil, 3) earthworms' ability to cope with heat and light stress remained unchanged after living in contaminated soil, but 4) earthworms living in contaminated soil gained 14% less body weight than did earthworms living in uncontaminated soil. We also found that, with the exception of zinc, heavy metals in our contaminated soil did not exceed the background levels found throughout New York State or the remediation targets set by the DEC. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Diversity and Divergence of Dinoflagellate Histone Proteins

PubMed Central

Marinov, Georgi K.; Lynch, Michael

2015-01-01

Histone proteins and the nucleosomal organization of chromatin are near-universal eukaroytic features, with the exception of dinoflagellates. Previous studies have suggested that histones do not play a major role in the packaging of dinoflagellate genomes, although several genomic and transcriptomic surveys have detected a full set of core histone genes. Here, transcriptomic and genomic sequence data from multiple dinoflagellate lineages are analyzed, and the diversity of histone proteins and their variants characterized, with particular focus on their potential post-translational modifications and the conservation of the histone code. In addition, the set of putative epigenetic mark readers and writers, chromatin remodelers and histone chaperones are examined. Dinoflagellates clearly express the most derived set of histones among all autonomous eukaryote nuclei, consistent with a combination of relaxation of sequence constraints imposed by the histone code and the presence of numerous specialized histone variants. The histone code itself appears to have diverged significantly in some of its components, yet others are conserved, implying conservation of the associated biochemical processes. Specifically, and with major implications for the function of histones in dinoflagellates, the results presented here strongly suggest that transcription through nucleosomal arrays happens in dinoflagellates. Finally, the plausible roles of histones in dinoflagellate nuclei are discussed. PMID:26646152

DichotomY IdentitY: Euler-Bernoulli Numbers, Sets-Multisets, FD-BE Quantum-Statistics, 1 /f0 - 1 /f1 Power-Spectra, Ellipse-Hyperbola Conic-Sections, Local-Global Extent: ``Category-Semantics''

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rota, G.-C.; Siegel, Edward Carl-Ludwig

2011-03-01

Seminal Apostol[Math.Mag.81,3,178(08);Am.Math.Month.115,9,795(08)]-Rota[Intro.Prob. Thy.(95)-p.50-55] DichotomY equivalence-class: set-theory: sets V multisets; closed V open; to Abromowitz-Stegun[Hdbk.Math.Fns.(64)]-ch.23,p.803!]: numbers/polynomials generating-functions: Euler V Bernoulli; to Siegel[Schrodinger Cent.Symp.(87); Symp.Fractals, MRS Fall Mtg.,(1989)-5-papers!] power-spectrum: 1/ f {0}-White V 1/ f {1}-Zipf/Pink (Archimedes) HYPERBOLICITY INEVITABILITY; to analytic-geometry Conic-Sections: Ellipse V (via Parabola) V Hyperbola; to Extent/Scale/Radius: Locality V Globality, Root-Causes/Ultimate-Origins: Dimensionality: odd-Z V (via fractal) V even-Z, to Symmetries/(Noether's-theorem connected)/Conservation-Laws Dichotomy: restored/conservation/convergence=0- V broken/non-conservation/divergence=/=0: with asymptotic-limit antipodes morphisms/ crossovers: Eureka!!!; "FUZZYICS"=''CATEGORYICS''!!! Connection to Kummer(1850) Bernoulli-numbers proof of FLT is via Siegel(CCNY;1964) < (1994)[AMS Joint Mtg. (2002)-Abs.973-60-124] short succinct physics proof: FLT = Least-Action Principle!!!

Using species spectra to evaluate plant community conservation value along a gradient of anthropogenic disturbance.

PubMed

Marcelino, José A P; Silva, Luís; Garcia, Patricia V; Weber, Everett; Soares, António O

2013-08-01

The aim of this study was to assess the impact of anthropogenic disturbance on the partitioning of plant communities (species spectra) across a landcover gradient of community types, categorizing species on the basis of their biogeographic, ecological, and conservation status. We tested a multinomial model to generate species spectra and monitor changes in plant assemblages as anthropogenic disturbance rise, as well as the usefulness of this method to assess the conservation value of a given community. Herbaceous and arborescent communities were sampled in five Azorean islands. Margins were also sampled to account for edge effects. Different multinomial models were applied to a data set of 348 plant species accounting for differences in parameter estimates among communities and/or islands. Different levels of anthropogenic disturbance produced measurable changes on species spectra. Introduced species proliferated and indigenous species declined, as anthropogenic disturbance and management intensity increased. Species assemblages of relevance other than economic (i.e., native, endemic, threatened species) were enclosed not only in natural habitats, but also in human managed arborescent habitats, which can positively contribute for the preservation of indigenous species outside remnants of natural areas, depending on management strategies. A significant presence of invasive species in margin transects of most community types will contribute to an increase in edge effect that might facilitate invasion. The multinomial model developed in this study was found to be a novel and expedient tool to characterize the species spectra at a given community and its use could be extrapolated for other assemblages or organisms, in order to evaluate and forecast the conservation value of a site.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Natura 2000 Network for Wolf Conservation: A Case-Study in Greece

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Votsi, Nefta-Eleftheria P.; Zomeni, Maria S.; Pantis, J. D.

2016-02-01

The wolf ( Canis lupus) is used as a case study to rate Natura 2000 sites in Greece based on preferred wolf habitat characteristics and test whether the network is suitable for their conservation. Road density, agricultural area, site area, connectivity, food availability (i.e., presence of natural prey), and elevation in 237 sites are combined in a logistic regression model. The occurrence of the wolf's natural prey was the most prevalent factor determining wolf presence, followed by agricultural cover. Considering the current status of these features at N2K site level, most sites currently hosting wolves (85.7 %) have good or excellent prospects for the long-term presence of the wolf. On the contrary, 11 sites which now have wolves are predicted to be ineffective in keeping them in the future due to the absence of wild ungulates and their high agricultural coverage. Four sites with no wolf presence currently have excellent prospects to host wolves in the future. Roadless sites are a priority for protection and retaining their current condition is strongly suggested. The proposed approach aims to detect gaps in protection for the wolf and identify priority sites in need of mitigation actions. It can also assist the assessment of conservation policies in Greece and elsewhere toward accomplishing set goals in protected areas. By focusing on wolf protection, we hope to increase agencies' attention to deal with conservation effectiveness, especially in cases like Greece, where a number of sites are insufficiently known and protected and management measures are not properly implemented.

A hybrid interface tracking - level set technique for multiphase flow with soluble surfactant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shin, Seungwon; Chergui, Jalel; Juric, Damir; Kahouadji, Lyes; Matar, Omar K.; Craster, Richard V.

2018-04-01

A formulation for soluble surfactant transport in multiphase flows recently presented by Muradoglu and Tryggvason (JCP 274 (2014) 737-757) [17] is adapted to the context of the Level Contour Reconstruction Method, LCRM, (Shin et al. IJNMF 60 (2009) 753-778, [8]) which is a hybrid method that combines the advantages of the Front-tracking and Level Set methods. Particularly close attention is paid to the formulation and numerical implementation of the surface gradients of surfactant concentration and surface tension. Various benchmark tests are performed to demonstrate the accuracy of different elements of the algorithm. To verify surfactant mass conservation, values for surfactant diffusion along the interface are compared with the exact solution for the problem of uniform expansion of a sphere. The numerical implementation of the discontinuous boundary condition for the source term in the bulk concentration is compared with the approximate solution. Surface tension forces are tested for Marangoni drop translation. Our numerical results for drop deformation in simple shear are compared with experiments and results from previous simulations. All benchmarking tests compare well with existing data thus providing confidence that the adapted LCRM formulation for surfactant advection and diffusion is accurate and effective in three-dimensional multiphase flows with a structured mesh. We also demonstrate that this approach applies easily to massively parallel simulations.

Using Spring Water Nitrate to Monitor Spatiotemporal Trends in Nitrogen Deposition for the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Plan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weiss, S. B.; Hastings, M. G.

2016-12-01

Atmospheric nitrogen deposition is a major acute threat to biodiversity, but has rarely been addressed in regulatory conservation plans. The Santa Clara Valley Habitat Plan is a Habitat Conservation Plan/Natural Communities Conservation Plan (HCP/NCCP) that addresses development impacts on 19 covered species, most of which inhabit nutrient-poor serpentine grasslands that are highly sensitive to N-deposition with a critical load of 6 kg-N ha-1 year-1. Increased N-deposition from highway improvements and development was a major regulatory nexus, and a novel nitrogen fee based on car trips generated is one of the funding mechanisms, driving a need for cost-effective and robust monitoring of N-deposition trends over the 50-year plan and beyond. In the high deposition zone (10-20 kg-N ha-1 year-1), spring water nitrate levels up to 25 ppm (as NO3-) were measured in baseflow, levels higher than any reported for non-agricultural sites in California. Nitrate measurements follow measured and modeled deposition gradients, and are affected by catchment soils, geomorphology, and vegetation. Existing knowledge of local nitrogen deposition using passive samplers, CMAQ models, N-cycling measurements, and emissions inventories/projections are used to generate hypotheses that can be tested with a combination of spring water nitrate sampled through the year and across deposition gradients, N and O isotopic analysis including 17O to trace atmospheric nitrate, modeled recharge rates, and groundwater dating. A set of sentinel springs for long-term monitoring will be identified and sampled on an interval commensurate with shallow groundwater residence times. The unique characteristics of serpentine grasslands (low productivity, shallow soils, highly fractured bedrock, and numerous springs) provide a model system for tracing N-deposition and its effects on protected species.

Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Italian version of the Western Ontario Osteoarthritis of the Shoulder index (WOOS).

PubMed

Corona, Katia; Cerciello, Simone; Morris, Brent Joseph; Visonà, Enrico; Merolla, Giovanni; Porcellini, Giuseppe

2016-12-01

The Western Ontario Osteoarthritis of the Shoulder index (WOOS) has been introduced as a disease-specific quality of life measurement in patients with glenohumeral arthritis. The aim of the present study was to perform a cross-cultural adaptation of the English version of the WOOS to Italian and to assess its validity, reliability and responsiveness in patients with glenohumeral joint osteoarthritis treated conservatively. The adaptation process was carried out following the simplified Guillemin criteria. The English version was translated into Italian by two bilingual orthopaedic surgeons and then translated back into English by two different bilingual orthopaedic surgeons. The original version was compared with the back-translation. The questionnaire was prospectively administered to 30 patients with glenohumeral osteoarthritis at baseline and again after 5 days for retest reliability. After 6 months of conservative treatment, the responsiveness of the questionnaire was assessed in a subsample of 20 patients. The level of statistical significance was set at 0.05. The interclass correlation coefficient between test and retest of the WOOS was 0.99 (P < 0.001). Pearson's correlation coefficient between the WOOS and disability of the arm, shoulder and hand (DASH) preoperatively was 0.73 (P < 0.01) and the correlation between the changes of score for the WOOS and DASH was 0.75 (P < 0.01). There were no floor or ceiling effects. Responsiveness, calculated by standardized response mean, was 1.1 and effect size was 1.3. The Italian version of the WOOS questionnaire has shown to be equivalent to its English version and demonstrated good validity, reliability and responsiveness to conservative treatment of glenohumeral osteoarthritis. Level II.

Modelling the effects of trade-offs between long and short-term objectives in fisheries management.

PubMed

Mardle, Simon; Pascoe, Sean

2002-05-01

Fisheries management is typically a complex problem, from both an environmental and political perspective. The main source of conflict occurs between the need for stock conservation and the need for fishing community well-being, which is typically measured by employment and income levels. For most fisheries, overexploitation of the stock requires a reduction in the level of fishing activity. While this may lead to long-term benefits (both conservation and economic), it also leads to a short-term reduction in employment and regional incomes. In regions which are heavily dependent on fisheries, short-term consequences of conservation efforts may be considerable. The relatively high degree of scientific uncertainty with respect to the status of the stocks and the relatively short lengths of political terms of office, generally give rise to the short-run view taking the highest priority when defining policy objectives. In this paper, a multi-objective model of the North Sea is developed that incorporates both long-term and short-term objectives. Optimal fleet sizes are estimated taking into consideration different preferences between the defined short-term and long-term objectives. The subsequent results from the model give the short-term and long-term equilibrium status of the fishery incorporating the effects of the short-term objectives. As would be expected, an optimal fleet from a short-term perspective is considerably larger than an optimal fleet from a long-run perspective. Conversely, stock sizes and sustainable yields are considerably lower in the long-term if a short-term perspective is used in setting management policies. The model results highlight what is essentially a principal-agent problem, with the objectives of the policy makers not necessarily reflecting the objectives of society as a whole.

Combining endangered plants and animals as surrogates to identify priority conservation areas in Yunnan, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Feiling; Hu, Jinming; Wu, Ruidong

2016-08-01

Suitable surrogates are critical for identifying optimal priority conservation areas (PCAs) to protect regional biodiversity. This study explored the efficiency of using endangered plants and animals as surrogates for identifying PCAs at the county level in Yunnan, southwest China. We ran the Dobson algorithm under three surrogate scenarios at 75% and 100% conservation levels and identified four types of PCAs. Assessment of the protection efficiencies of the four types of PCAs showed that endangered plants had higher surrogacy values than endangered animals but that the two were not substitutable; coupled endangered plants and animals as surrogates yielded a higher surrogacy value than endangered plants or animals as surrogates; the plant-animal priority areas (PAPAs) was the optimal among the four types of PCAs for conserving both endangered plants and animals in Yunnan. PAPAs could well represent overall species diversity distribution patterns and overlap with critical biogeographical regions in Yunnan. Fourteen priority units in PAPAs should be urgently considered as optimizing Yunnan’s protected area system. The spatial pattern of PAPAs at the 100% conservation level could be conceptualized into three connected conservation belts, providing a valuable reference for optimizing the layout of the in situ protected area system in Yunnan.

Integrating single-species management and landscape conservation using regional habitat occurrence models: The northern goshawk in the Southwest, USA

Treesearch

Brett G. Dickson; Thomas D. Sisk; Steven E. Sesnie; Richard T. Reynolds; Steven S. Rosenstock; Christina D. Vojta; Michael F. Ingraldi; Jill M. Rundall

2014-01-01

Conservation planners and land managers are often confronted with scale-associated challenges when assessing the relationship between land management objectives and species conservation. Conservation of individual species typically involves site-level analyses of habitat, whereas land management focuses on larger spatial extents. New models are needed to more...

DUALITY IN MULTIVARIATE RECEPTOR MODEL. (R831078)

EPA Science Inventory

Multivariate receptor models are used for source apportionment of multiple observations of compositional data of air pollutants that obey mass conservation. Singular value decomposition of the data leads to two sets of eigenvectors. One set of eigenvectors spans a space in whi...