[Small unmanned aerial vehicles for low-altitude remote sensing and its application progress in ecology.

PubMed

Sun, Zhong Yu; Chen, Yan Qiao; Yang, Long; Tang, Guang Liang; Yuan, Shao Xiong; Lin, Zhi Wen

2017-02-01

Low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) remote sensing system overcomes the deficiencies of space and aerial remote sensing system in resolution, revisit period, cloud cover and cost, which provides a novel method for ecological research on mesoscale. This study introduced the composition of UAV remote sensing system, reviewed its applications in species, population, community and ecosystem ecology research. Challenges and opportunities of UAV ecology were identified to direct future research. The promising research area of UAV ecology includes the establishment of species morphology and spectral characteristic data base, species automatic identification, the revelation of relationship between spectral index and plant physiological processes, three-dimension monitoring of ecosystem, and the integration of remote sensing data from multi resources and multi scales. With the development of UAV platform, data transformation and sensors, UAV remote sensing technology will have wide application in ecology research.

Ecological Growth Boundaries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bluszcz, Anna

2017-03-01

The trends of the society for the continuous growth, combined with the demographic changes, today have led to the important ecological problems on a global scale, which include, among others: the increased use of non-renewable natural resources, an increase of the greenhouse gas emissions, contamination of soil, water, air and the progressive degradation of ecosystems. In the face of such serious threats the global initiatives of all countries are important to limit the results of the excessive consumption. The aim of the article is to present the methods of measurement of the consumption level of natural resources by the societies and the examination of relationships between the level of development of the societies and the use of resources. The popular measure - the ecological footprint - was used as a measurement method for the consumption of the today's generations in relation to the regenerative possibilities of the natural environment. On the other hand, as the assessment method for the level of development of societies - the Human Development Index (HDI), including three basic areas: the life expectancy, GDP level per capita and education was used. The results of the research indicate that the current trend of the unlimited consumption of the highly developed countries takes place at the expense of the future generations.

Seamless Connection between Learning and Assessment--Applying Progressive Learning Tasks in Mobile Ecology Inquiry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hung, Pi-Hsia; Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Lin, Yu-Fen; Wu, Tsung-Hsun; Su, I-Hsiang

2013-01-01

Mobile learning has been recommended for motivating students on field trips; nevertheless, owing to the complexity and the richness of the learning resources from both the real-world and the digital-world environments, information overload remains one of the major concerns. Most mobile learning designs provide feedback only for multiple choice…

Land Management in the Anthropocene: Is History Still Relevant?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Safford, Hugh D.; Betancourt, Julio L.; Hayward, Gregory D.; Wiens, John A.; Regan, Claudia M.

2008-09-01

Incorporating Historical Ecology and Climate Change Into Land Management; Lansdowne, Virginia, 22-25 April 2008; Ecological restoration, conservation, and land management are often based on comparisons with reference sites or time periods, which are assumed to represent ``natural'' or ``properly functioning'' conditions. Such reference conditions can provide a vision of the conservation or management goal and a means to measure progress toward that vision. Although historical ecology has been used successfully to guide resource management in many parts of the world, the continuing relevance of history is now being questioned. Some scientists doubt that lessons from the past can inform management in what may be a dramatically different future, given profound climate change, accelerated land use, and an onslaught of plant and animal invasions.

Energy, food, and land-- the ecological traps of humankind.

PubMed

Haber, Wolfgang

2007-09-01

Humans' superiority over all other organisms on earth rests on five main foundations: command of fire requiring fuel; controlled production of food and other biotic substances; utilization of metals and other non-living materials for construction and appliances; technically determined, urban-oriented living standard; economically and culturally regulated societal organization. The young discipline of ecology has revealed that the progress of civilization and technology attained, and being further pursued by humankind, and generally taken for granted and permanent, is leading into ecological traps. This metaphor circumscribes ecological situations where finite resources are being exhausted or rendered non-utilizable without a realistic prospect of restitution. Energy, food and land are the principal, closely interrelated traps; but the absolutely decisive resource in question is land whose increasing scarcity is totally underrated. Land is needed for fulfilling growing food demands, for producing renewable energy in the post-fossil and post-nuclear era, for maintaining other ecosystem services, for urban-industrial uses, transport, material extraction, refuse deposition, but also for leisure, recreation, and nature conservation. All these needs compete for land, food and non-food biomass production moreover for good soils that are scarcer than ever. We are preoccupied with fighting climate change and loss of biodiversity; but these are minor problems we could adapt to, albeit painfully, and their solution will fail if we are caught in the interrelated traps of energy, food, and land scarcity. Land and soils, finite and irreproducible resources, are the key issues we have to devote our work to, based on careful ecological information, planning and design for proper uses and purposes. The article concludes with a short reflection on economy and competition as general driving forces, and on the role and reputation of today's ecology.

MiDAS 2.0: an ecosystem-specific taxonomy and online database for the organisms of wastewater treatment systems expanded for anaerobic digester groups

PubMed Central

McIlroy, Simon Jon; Kirkegaard, Rasmus Hansen; McIlroy, Bianca; Nierychlo, Marta; Kristensen, Jannie Munk; Karst, Søren Michael; Albertsen, Mads

2017-01-01

Abstract Wastewater is increasingly viewed as a resource, with anaerobic digester technology being routinely implemented for biogas production. Characterising the microbial communities involved in wastewater treatment facilities and their anaerobic digesters is considered key to their optimal design and operation. Amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene allows high-throughput monitoring of these systems. The MiDAS field guide is a public resource providing amplicon sequencing protocols and an ecosystem-specific taxonomic database optimized for use with wastewater treatment facility samples. The curated taxonomy endeavours to provide a genus-level-classification for abundant phylotypes and the online field guide links this identity to published information regarding their ecology, function and distribution. This article describes the expansion of the database resources to cover the organisms of the anaerobic digester systems fed primary sludge and surplus activated sludge. The updated database includes descriptions of the abundant genus-level-taxa in influent wastewater, activated sludge and anaerobic digesters. Abundance information is also included to allow assessment of the role of emigration in the ecology of each phylotype. MiDAS is intended as a collaborative resource for the progression of research into the ecology of wastewater treatment, by providing a public repository for knowledge that is accessible to all interested in these biotechnologically important systems. Database URL: http://www.midasfieldguide.org PMID:28365734

Green Innovation Design of Products under the Perspective of Sustainable Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

yi-fei, Guo

2017-01-01

with the continuous development and progress of productivity, product design spans with the age now and forms a diversified formation. But when there is a progress of science and technology, the speed of consumption of resources is also increasing, the relationship between mankind and the nature further worsens, resources will be exhausted, pollution is increasingly serious and shocking public nuisance events occur frequently. People pay more attention to the environment due to the harms to the nature caused by the development of industry, science and technology. Nowadays, people have clearly recognized the important role of design in environmental protection. The ecological research on constructing a new aesthetic relationship between human and nature has drawn wide attention from all circles of the society. Green innovation design has become the focus of global concern.

Empirical Research on Ecological Development Level of Resource-based Industries-Base on the data of the Silk Road Economic Belt Core Zone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Lei; Yan, Min

2017-11-01

Industrial ecology is the epitome of sustainable development in industry level, is one effective gateway to realizing green transformation. On the basis of industrial ecology development, including resource efficiency and environmental efficiency of ecological evaluation index system, this paper evaluates the level of industrial ecology development of resource-based industries in Xinjiang using entropy method. Research shows that the overall ecological development level of resource-based industries has remained at continuous improved trend with slow improvement in resource efficiency, and relative faster improvement in environmental efficiency. With economic development entering into the period of new normal at the end of the “twelfth five year plan”, the resource efficiency of ecological development of resource-based industries demonstrated a downward trend. The overall level of industrial ecology also faced with certain fluctuations, various ecological development level of resource-based industries also presented a downward trend. To promote ecological development of resource-based industries in Xinjiang, countermeasures and suggestions are initiated.

Ecological, psychological, and cognitive components of reading difficulties: testing the component model of reading in fourth graders across 38 countries.

PubMed

Chiu, Ming Ming; McBride-Chang, Catherine; Lin, Dan

2012-01-01

The authors tested the component model of reading (CMR) among 186,725 fourth grade students from 38 countries (45 regions) on five continents by analyzing the 2006 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study data using measures of ecological (country, family, school, teacher), psychological, and cognitive components. More than 91% of the differences in student difficulty occurred at the country (61%) and classroom (30%) levels (ecological), with less than 9% at the student level (cognitive and psychological). All three components were negatively associated with reading difficulties: cognitive (student's early literacy skills), ecological (family characteristics [socioeconomic status, number of books at home, and attitudes about reading], school characteristics [school climate and resources]), and psychological (students' attitudes about reading, reading self-concept, and being a girl). These results extend the CMR by demonstrating the importance of multiple levels of factors for reading deficits across diverse cultures.

Afforestation or intense pasturing improve the ecological and economic value of abandoned tropical farmlands.

PubMed

Knoke, Thomas; Bendix, Jörg; Pohle, Perdita; Hamer, Ute; Hildebrandt, Patrick; Roos, Kristin; Gerique, Andrés; Sandoval, María L; Breuer, Lutz; Tischer, Alexander; Silva, Brenner; Calvas, Baltazar; Aguirre, Nikolay; Castro, Luz M; Windhorst, David; Weber, Michael; Stimm, Bernd; Günter, Sven; Palomeque, Ximena; Mora, Julio; Mosandl, Reinhard; Beck, Erwin

2014-11-26

Increasing demands for livelihood resources in tropical rural areas have led to progressive clearing of biodiverse natural forests. Restoration of abandoned farmlands could counter this process. However, as aims and modes of restoration differ in their ecological and socio-economic value, the assessment of achievable ecosystem functions and benefits requires holistic investigation. Here we combine the results from multidisciplinary research for a unique assessment based on a normalization of 23 ecological, economic and social indicators for four restoration options in the tropical Andes of Ecuador. A comparison of the outcomes among afforestation with native alder or exotic pine, pasture restoration with either low-input or intense management and the abandoned status quo shows that both variants of afforestation and intense pasture use improve the ecological value, but low-input pasture does not. Economic indicators favour either afforestation or intense pasturing. Both Mestizo and indigenous Saraguro settlers are more inclined to opt for afforestation.

[Calculation model of urban water resources ecological footprint and its application: a case study in Shenyang City of Northeast China].

PubMed

Wang, Jian; Zhang, Chao-Xing; Yu, Ying-Tan; Li, Fa-Yun; Ma, Fang

2012-08-01

Water resources ecological footprint can directly reflect the pressure of human social and economic activities to water resources, and provide important reference for the rational utilization of water resources. Based on the existing ecological footprint models and giving full consideration of the water resources need of urban ecological system, this paper established a new calculation model of urban water resources ecological footprint, including domestic water account, process water account, public service water account, and ecological water requirement account. According to the actual situation of Shenyang City, the key parameters of the model were determined, and the water resources ecological footprint and ecological carrying capacity of the City were calculated and analyzed. From 2000 to 2009, the water resources ecological footprint per capita of the City presented an overall decreasing trend, but still had an annual ecological deficit. As compared to that in 2000, the water resources ecological footprint per capita was decreased to 0.31 hm2 in 2005, increased slightly in 2006 and 2007, and remained stable in 2008 and 2009, which suggested that the sustainable utilization of water resources in Shenyang City had definite improvement, but was still in an unsustainable development situation.

From forest and agro-ecosystems to the microecosystems of the human body: what can landscape ecology tell us about tumor growth, metastasis, and treatment options?

PubMed Central

Daoust, Simon P; Fahrig, Lenore; Martin, Amanda E; Thomas, Frédéric

2013-01-01

Cancer is now understood to be a process that follows Darwinian evolution. Heterogeneous populations of cancerous cells that make up the tumor inhabit the tissue ‘microenvironment’, where ecological interactions analogous to predation and competition for resources drive the somatic evolution of cancer. The tumor microenvironment plays a crucial role in the tumor genesis, development, and metastasis processes, as it creates the microenvironmental selection forces that ultimately determine the cellular characteristics that result in the greatest fitness. Here, we explore and offer new insights into the spatial aspects of tumor–microenvironment interactions through the application of landscape ecology theory to tumor growth and metastasis within the tissue microhabitat. We argue that small tissue microhabitats in combination with the spatial distribution of resources within these habitats could be important selective forces driving tumor invasiveness. We also contend that the compositional and configurational heterogeneity of components in the tissue microhabitat do not only influence resource availability and functional connectivity but also play a crucial role in facilitating metastasis and may serve to explain, at least in part, tissue tropism in certain cancers. This novel work provides a compelling argument for the necessity of taking into account the structure of the tissue microhabitat when investigating tumor progression. PMID:23396712

From forest and agro-ecosystems to the microecosystems of the human body: what can landscape ecology tell us about tumor growth, metastasis, and treatment options?

PubMed

Daoust, Simon P; Fahrig, Lenore; Martin, Amanda E; Thomas, Frédéric

2013-01-01

Cancer is now understood to be a process that follows Darwinian evolution. Heterogeneous populations of cancerous cells that make up the tumor inhabit the tissue 'microenvironment', where ecological interactions analogous to predation and competition for resources drive the somatic evolution of cancer. The tumor microenvironment plays a crucial role in the tumor genesis, development, and metastasis processes, as it creates the microenvironmental selection forces that ultimately determine the cellular characteristics that result in the greatest fitness. Here, we explore and offer new insights into the spatial aspects of tumor-microenvironment interactions through the application of landscape ecology theory to tumor growth and metastasis within the tissue microhabitat. We argue that small tissue microhabitats in combination with the spatial distribution of resources within these habitats could be important selective forces driving tumor invasiveness. We also contend that the compositional and configurational heterogeneity of components in the tissue microhabitat do not only influence resource availability and functional connectivity but also play a crucial role in facilitating metastasis and may serve to explain, at least in part, tissue tropism in certain cancers. This novel work provides a compelling argument for the necessity of taking into account the structure of the tissue microhabitat when investigating tumor progression.

Integrated risk and recovery monitoring of ecosystem restorations on contaminated sites

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hooper, Michael J.; Glomb, Stephen J.; Harper, David; Hoelzle, Timothy B.; McIntosh, Lisa M.; Mulligan, David R.

2016-01-01

Ecological restorations of contaminated sites balance the human and ecological risks of residual contamination with the benefits of ecological recovery and the return of lost ecological function and ecosystem services. Risk and recovery are interrelated dynamic conditions, changing as remediation and restoration activities progress through implementation into long-term management and ecosystem maturation. Monitoring restoration progress provides data critical to minimizing residual contaminant risk and uncertainty, while measuring ecological advancement toward recovery goals. Effective monitoring plans are designed concurrently with restoration plan development and implementation and are focused on assessing the effectiveness of activities performed in support of restoration goals for the site. Physical, chemical, and biotic measures characterize progress toward desired structural and functional ecosystem components of the goals. Structural metrics, linked to ecosystem functions and services, inform restoration practitioners of work plan modifications or more substantial adaptive management actions necessary to maintain desired recovery. Monitoring frequency, duration, and scale depend on specific attributes and goals of the restoration project. Often tied to restoration milestones, critical assessment of monitoring metrics ensures attainment of risk minimization and ecosystem recovery. Finally, interpretation and communication of monitoring findings inform and engage regulators, other stakeholders, the scientific community, and the public. Because restoration activities will likely cease before full ecosystem recovery, monitoring endpoints should demonstrate risk reduction and a successional trajectory toward the condition established in the restoration goals. A detailed assessment of the completed project's achievements, as well as unrealized objectives, attained through project monitoring, will determine if contaminant risk has been minimized, if injured resources have recovered, and if ecosystem services have been returned. Such retrospective analysis will allow better planning for future restoration goals and strengthen the evidence base for quantifying injuries and damages at other sites in the future.

[Analysis of projects funded by NSFC in field of Chinese material medica resource in recent three years].

PubMed

Gao, Wei; Guo, Shu-Zhen; Han, Li-Wei; Zhang, Feng-Zhu

2016-10-01

The paper reviewed the sponsorship and final reports of projects focus on Science of Chinese materia medica resource in Medical Science Department, National Natural Science Foundation of China. The applicant and supportive organizations were analyzed. The progress and results of some projects were summarized by research fields including formation mechanism of Dao-di herbs, research of plant taxonomy, breeding and cultivation of medical plants, ecological and environmental adaptability of Chinese materia medica resource, quality assessment of Chinese materia medica resource, and biosynthesis and regulation of active compounds. In addition, the potential problems and the most and least focused areas in the application were summarized for reference. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

Land management in the Anthropocene: is history still relevant?: Incorporating historical ecology and climate change into land management; Lansdowne, Virginia, 22–25 April 2008

USGS Publications Warehouse

Safford, Hugh D.; Betancourt, Julio L.; Hayward, Gregory D.; Wiens, John A.; Regan, Claudia M.

2008-01-01

Ecological restoration, conservation, and land management are often based on comparisons with reference sites or time periods, which are assumed to represent “natural” or “properly functioning” conditions. Such reference conditions can provide a vision of the conservation or management goal and a means to measure progress toward that vision. Although historical ecology has been used successfully to guide resource management in many parts of the world, the continuing relevance of history is now being questioned. Some scientists doubt that lessons from the past can inform management in what may be a dramatically different future, given profound climate change, accelerated land use, and an onslaught of plant and animal invasions.

MiDAS 2.0: an ecosystem-specific taxonomy and online database for the organisms of wastewater treatment systems expanded for anaerobic digester groups.

PubMed

McIlroy, Simon Jon; Kirkegaard, Rasmus Hansen; McIlroy, Bianca; Nierychlo, Marta; Kristensen, Jannie Munk; Karst, Søren Michael; Albertsen, Mads; Nielsen, Per Halkjær

2017-01-01

Wastewater is increasingly viewed as a resource, with anaerobic digester technology being routinely implemented for biogas production. Characterising the microbial communities involved in wastewater treatment facilities and their anaerobic digesters is considered key to their optimal design and operation. Amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene allows high-throughput monitoring of these systems. The MiDAS field guide is a public resource providing amplicon sequencing protocols and an ecosystem-specific taxonomic database optimized for use with wastewater treatment facility samples. The curated taxonomy endeavours to provide a genus-level-classification for abundant phylotypes and the online field guide links this identity to published information regarding their ecology, function and distribution. This article describes the expansion of the database resources to cover the organisms of the anaerobic digester systems fed primary sludge and surplus activated sludge. The updated database includes descriptions of the abundant genus-level-taxa in influent wastewater, activated sludge and anaerobic digesters. Abundance information is also included to allow assessment of the role of emigration in the ecology of each phylotype. MiDAS is intended as a collaborative resource for the progression of research into the ecology of wastewater treatment, by providing a public repository for knowledge that is accessible to all interested in these biotechnologically important systems. http://www.midasfieldguide.org. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

National Research Program of the Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey: Fiscal Year 1988

USGS Publications Warehouse

Friedman, Linda C.; Donato, Christine N.

1989-01-01

The National Research Program (NRP) of the US Geological Survey 's Water Resources Division (WRD) had its beginnings in the late 1950 's when ' core research ' was added as a line item to the Congressional budget. Since that time, the NRP has grown to encompass a broad spectrum of scientific investigations. The sciences of hydrology, mathematics, chemistry, physics, ecology, biology, geology, and engineering are used to gain a fundamental understanding of the processes that affect the availability, movement, and quality of the Nation 's water resources. The NRP is located principally in Reston, VA, Denver, CO, and Menlo Park , CA. The NRP is subdivided into six disciplines as follows: (1) Ecology; (2) Geomorphology and Sediment Transport; (3) Groundwater Chemistry; (4) Groundwater Hydrology; (5) Surface Water Chemistry; and (6) Surface Water Hydrology. The report provides current information about the NRP on an annual basis. Organized by the six research disciplines, the volume contains a summary of the problem, objective, approach, and progress for each project that was active during fiscal year 1988.

Has the world really survived the population bomb? (Commentary on "how the world survived the population bomb: lessons from 50 years of extraordinary demographic history").

PubMed

Becker, Stan

2013-12-01

In his PAA presidential address and corresponding article in Demography, David Lam (Demography 48:1231-1262, 2011) documented the extraordinary progress of humankind-vis-à-vis poverty alleviation, increased schooling, and reductions in mortality and fertility-since 1960 and noted that he expects further improvements by 2050. However, although Lam briefly covered the problems of global warming and pollution, he did not address several other major environmental problems that are closely related to the rapid human population growth in recent decades and to the progress he described. This commentary highlights some of these problems to provide a more balanced perspective on the situation of the world. Specifically, humans currently are using resources at an unsustainable level. Groundwater depletion and overuse of river water are major problems on multiple continents. Fossil fuel resources and several minerals are being depleted. Other major problems include deforestation, with the annual forest clearing globally estimated to be an area the size of New York State; and species extinction, with rates estimated to be 100 to 1,000 times higher than background rates. Principles of ecological economics are presented that allow an integration of ecology and economic development and better potential for preservation of the world for future generations.

Toward a social-ecological theory of forest macrosystems for improved ecosystem management

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kleindl, William J.; Stoy, Paul C.; Binford, Michael W.; Desai, Ankur R.; Dietze, Michael C.; Schultz, Courtney A.; Starr, Gregory; Staudhammer, Christina; Wood, David J. A.

2018-01-01

The implications of cumulative land-use decisions and shifting climate on forests, require us to integrate our understanding of ecosystems, markets, policy, and resource management into a social-ecological system. Humans play a central role in macrosystem dynamics, which complicates ecological theories that do not explicitly include human interactions. These dynamics also impact ecological services and related markets, which challenges economic theory. Here, we use two forest macroscale management initiatives to develop a theoretical understanding of how management interacts with ecological functions and services at these scales and how the multiple large-scale management goals work either in consort or conflict with other forest functions and services. We suggest that calling upon theories developed for organismal ecology, ecosystem ecology, and ecological economics adds to our understanding of social-ecological macrosystems. To initiate progress, we propose future research questions to add rigor to macrosystem-scale studies: (1) What are the ecosystem functions that operate at macroscales, their necessary structural components, and how do we observe them? (2) How do systems at one scale respond if altered at another scale? (3) How do we both effectively measure these components and interactions, and communicate that information in a meaningful manner for policy and management across different scales?

[Ecological design of ditches in agricultural land consolidation: a review].

PubMed

Ye, Yan-mei; Wu, Ci-fang; Yu, Jing

2011-07-01

Agricultural land consolidation is a strong disturbance to farmland ecosystem. In traditional agricultural land consolidation, the main technical and economic indices for the design of ditches include the convenience for production and transportation, the allocation of water resources, and the improvement of water utilization, but short of ecological consideration, which has already affected the spread of agricultural species, caused the degradation of bio-habitat, and given obvious negative effects on the bio-competition mechanism, buffering and compensation capacity, and insect pests-resistance of farmland ecosystem. This paper summarized the functions of ecological ditches, and introduced the recent progress on the formations and construction designs of ecological ditches, tests of ecological engineering methods, and technologies and methods of choosing correct ecological materials. It was suggested that the future research should focus on the different functional requirements and specifications for different roads and ditches, and the characteristics and habitats of all the organisms and animals should be considered by the designers and constructors. Moreover, a comprehensive design which meets the ecological demands for the ditches' formations, structures, and regulatory sizes should be taken into account to solve the most of the problems listed above.

Annual Research Review: What is resilience within the social ecology of human development?

PubMed

Ungar, Michael; Ghazinour, Mehdi; Richter, Jörg

2013-04-01

  The development of Bronfenbrenner's bio-social-ecological systems model of human development parallels advances made to the theory of resilience that progressively moved from a more individual (micro) focus on traits to a multisystemic understanding of person-environment reciprocal processes.   This review uses Bronfenbrenner's model and Ungar's social-ecological interpretation of four decades of research on resilience to discuss the results of a purposeful selection of studies of resilience that have been done in different contexts and cultures.   An ecological model of resilience can, and indeed has been shown to help researchers of resilience to conceptualize the child's social and physical ecologies, from caregivers to neighbourhoods, that account for both proximal and distal factors that predict successful development under adversity. Three principles emerged from this review that inform a bio-social-ecological interpretation of resilience: equifinality (there are many proximal processes that can lead to many different, but equally viable, expressions of human development associated with well-being); differential impact (the nature of the risks children face, their perceptions of the resources available to mitigate those risks and the quality of the resources that are accessible make proximal processes more or less influential to children's development); and contextual and cultural moderation (different contexts and cultures provide access to different processes associated with resilience as it is defined locally).   As this review shows, using this multisystemic social-ecological theory of resilience can inform a deeper understanding of the processes that contribute to positive development under stress. It can also offer practitioners and policy makers a broader perspective on principles for the design and implementation of effective interventions. © 2012 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry © 2012 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

Ecological control line: A decade of exploration and an innovative path of ecological land management for megacities in China.

PubMed

Hong, Wuyang; Yang, Chengyun; Chen, Liuxin; Zhang, Fangfang; Shen, Shaoqing; Guo, Renzhong

2017-04-15

Ecological control line is a system innovation in the field of ecological environment protection in China and it has become as an important strategy of national ecological protection. Ten years have passed since the first ecological control line in Shenzhen was delimited in 2005. This study examines the connotations of ecological control line and the current study status in China and abroad, and then takes a brief description about the delimitation background and existing problems of the ecological control line in Shenzhen. The problem-solving strategy is gradually transforming from extensive management to refined management. This study proposes a differential ecological space management model that merges the space system, management system, and support system. The implementation paths include the following five aspects: delimiting ecological bottom lines to protect core ecological resources; formulating access systems for new construction projects to strictly control new construction; implementing construction land inventory reclamation assisted by market means; regulating boundary adjusting procedures and processes; and constructing ecological equity products by using multiple means to implement rights relief. Finally, this study illustrates the progress of the implementation and discusses the rigorousness and flexibility problems of ecological control line and calls for the promotion of the legislation. The management model and implementation paths proposed in this study have referential significance for developing countries and megacities to achieve ecological protection and sustainable development. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Land management in the Anthropocene: Is history still relevant?

USGS Publications Warehouse

Safford, Hugh D.; Betancourt, Julio L.; Hayward, Gregory D.; Wiens, John A.; Regan, Claudia M.

2008-01-01

Ecological restoration, conservation, and land management are often based on comparisons with reference sites or time periods, which are assumed to represent “natural” or “properly functioning” conditions. Such reference conditions can provide a vision of the conservation or management goal and a means to measure progress toward that vision. Although historical ecology has been used successfully to guide resource management in many parts of the world, the continuing relevance of history is now being questioned. Some scientists doubt that lessons from the past can inform management in what may be a dramatically different future, given profound climate change, accelerated land use, and an onslaught of plant and animal invasions.

What is microbial community ecology?

PubMed

Konopka, Allan

2009-11-01

The activities of complex communities of microbes affect biogeochemical transformations in natural, managed and engineered ecosystems. Meaningfully defining what constitutes a community of interacting microbial populations is not trivial, but is important for rigorous progress in the field. Important elements of research in microbial community ecology include the analysis of functional pathways for nutrient resource and energy flows, mechanistic understanding of interactions between microbial populations and their environment, and the emergent properties of the complex community. Some emergent properties mirror those analyzed by community ecologists who study plants and animals: biological diversity, functional redundancy and system stability. However, because microbes possess mechanisms for the horizontal transfer of genetic information, the metagenome may also be considered as a community property.

Afforestation or intense pasturing improve the ecological and economic value of abandoned tropical farmlands

PubMed Central

Knoke, Thomas; Bendix, Jörg; Pohle, Perdita; Hamer, Ute; Hildebrandt, Patrick; Roos, Kristin; Gerique, Andrés; Sandoval, María L.; Breuer, Lutz; Tischer, Alexander; Silva, Brenner; Calvas, Baltazar; Aguirre, Nikolay; Castro, Luz M.; Windhorst, David; Weber, Michael; Stimm, Bernd; Günter, Sven; Palomeque, Ximena; Mora, Julio; Mosandl, Reinhard; Beck, Erwin

2014-01-01

Increasing demands for livelihood resources in tropical rural areas have led to progressive clearing of biodiverse natural forests. Restoration of abandoned farmlands could counter this process. However, as aims and modes of restoration differ in their ecological and socio-economic value, the assessment of achievable ecosystem functions and benefits requires holistic investigation. Here we combine the results from multidisciplinary research for a unique assessment based on a normalization of 23 ecological, economic and social indicators for four restoration options in the tropical Andes of Ecuador. A comparison of the outcomes among afforestation with native alder or exotic pine, pasture restoration with either low-input or intense management and the abandoned status quo shows that both variants of afforestation and intense pasture use improve the ecological value, but low-input pasture does not. Economic indicators favour either afforestation or intense pasturing. Both Mestizo and indigenous Saraguro settlers are more inclined to opt for afforestation. PMID:25425182

[Wetland landscape pattern change based on GIS and RS: a review].

PubMed

Kong, Fan-Ting; Xi, Min; Li, Yue; Kong, Fan-Long; Chen, Wan

2013-04-01

Wetland is an ecological landscape with most biodiversity in nature, which has unique ecological structure and function, and contains abundant natural resources to provide material guarantee for human's living and development. Wetland landscape pattern is the comprehensive result of various ecological processes, and has become a hot issue in wetland ecological study. At present, the combination of geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) technologies is an important way to study the wetland landscape pattern change. This paper reviewed the research progress in the wetland landscape change based on GIS and RS from the aspects of the research methods of wetland landscape pattern, index of wetland landscape pattern, and driving forces of wetland landscape pattern evolution, and discussed the applications of the combination of GIS and RS in monitoring the wetland landscape pattern change, the index selection of wetland landscape pattern, and the driving mechanisms of the combined action of human and nature. Some deficiencies in the current studies were put forward, and the directions of the future-studies were prospected.

A guide to statistical analysis in microbial ecology: a community-focused, living review of multivariate data analyses.

PubMed

Buttigieg, Pier Luigi; Ramette, Alban

2014-12-01

The application of multivariate statistical analyses has become a consistent feature in microbial ecology. However, many microbial ecologists are still in the process of developing a deep understanding of these methods and appreciating their limitations. As a consequence, staying abreast of progress and debate in this arena poses an additional challenge to many microbial ecologists. To address these issues, we present the GUide to STatistical Analysis in Microbial Ecology (GUSTA ME): a dynamic, web-based resource providing accessible descriptions of numerous multivariate techniques relevant to microbial ecologists. A combination of interactive elements allows users to discover and navigate between methods relevant to their needs and examine how they have been used by others in the field. We have designed GUSTA ME to become a community-led and -curated service, which we hope will provide a common reference and forum to discuss and disseminate analytical techniques relevant to the microbial ecology community. © 2014 The Authors. FEMS Microbiology Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Federation of European Microbiological Societies.

A scheme for the uniform mapping and monitoring of earth resources and environmental complexes using ERTS-1 imagery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Poulton, C. E. (Principal Investigator); Welch, R. I.

1973-01-01

There are no author-identified significant results in this report. Progress on plans for the development and testing of a practical procedure and system for the uniform mapping and monitoring of natural ecosystems and environmental complexes from space-acquired imagery is discussed. With primary emphasis on ERTS-1 imagery, but supported by appropriate aircraft photography as necessary, the objectives are to accomplish the following: (1) Develop and test in a few selected sites and areas of the western United States a standard format for an ecological and land use legend for making natural resource inventories on a simulated global basis. (2) Based on these same limited geographic areas, identify the potentialities and limitations of the legend concept for the recognition and annotation of ecological analogs and environmental complexes. An additional objective is to determine the optimum combination of space photography, aerial photography, ground data, human data analysis, and automatic data analysis for estimating crop yield in the rice growing areas of California and Louisiana.

Regional forest resource assessment in an ecological framework: the Southern United States

Treesearch

Victor A. Rudis

1998-01-01

Information about forest resources grouped by ecologically homogeneous area can be used to discern relationships between those resources and ecological processes. The author used forest resource data from 0.4-ha plots, and data on population and land area (by county), together with a global-to-local hierarchical framework of land areas with similar ecological potential...

Integrating Landscape Ecology into Natural Resource Management - Series: Cambridge Studies in Landscape Ecology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jianguo Liu, Edited By; Taylor, William W.

2002-08-01

The rapidly increasing global population has dramatically increased the demands for natural resources and has caused significant changes in quantity and quality of natural resources. To achieve sustainable resource management, it is essential to obtain insightful guidance from emerging disciplines such as landscape ecology. This text addresses the links between landscape ecology and natural resource management. These links are discussed in the context of various landscape types, a diverse set of resources and a wide range of management issues. A large number of landscape ecology concepts, principles and methods are introduced. Critical reviews of past management practices and a number of case studies are presented. This text provides many guidelines for managing natural resources from a landscape perspective and offers useful suggestions for landscape ecologists to carry out research relevant to natural resource management. In addition, it will be an ideal supplemental text for graduate and advanced undergraduate ecology courses. Written, and rigorously reviewed, by many of the world's leading landscape ecologists and natural resource managers Contains numerous case studies and insightful guidelines for landscape ecologists and natural resource managers

Multi-scale research of time and space differences about ecological footprint and ecological carrying capacity of the water resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jiahong; Lei, Xiaohui; Fu, Qiang; Li, Tianxiao; Qiao, Yu; Chen, Lei; Liao, Weihong

2018-03-01

A multi-scale assessment framework for assessing and comparing the water resource sustainability based on the ecological footprint (EF) is introduced. The study aims to manage the water resource from different views in Heilongjiang Province. First of all, from the scale of each city, the water ecological carrying capacity (ECC) was calculated from 2000 to 2011, and map the spatial distribution of the recent 3 years which show that, the water ecological carrying capacity (ECC) is uneven and has a downward trend year by year. Then, from the perspective of the five secondary partition basins in Heilongjiang Province, the paper calculated the ecological carrying capacity (ECC), the ecological footprint (EF) and ecological surplus and deficit (S&D) situation of water resources from 2000 to 2011, which show that the ecological deficit situation is more prominent in Nenjiang and Suifenhe basins which are in an unsustainable development state. Finally, from the perspective of the province, the paper calculated the ecological carrying capacity (ECC), the ecological footprint (EF) and ecological S&D of water resources from 2000 to 2011 in Heilongjiang Province, which show that the ecological footprint (EF) is in the rising trend, and the correlation coefficient between the ecological carrying capacity (ECC) and the precipitation is 0.8. There are 5 years of unsustainable development state in Heilongjiang. The proposed multi-scale assessment of WEF aims to evaluate the complex relationship between water resource supply and consumption in different spatial scales and time series. It also provides more reasonable assessment result which can be used by managers and regulators.

Biospheres and solar system exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paine, Thomas O.

1990-01-01

The implications of biosphere technology is briefly examined. The exploration status and prospects of each world in the solar system is briefly reviewed, including the asteroid belt, the moon, and comets. Five program elements are listed as particularly critical for future interplanetary operations during the coming extraterrestrial century. They include the following: (1) a highway to Space (earth orbits); (2) Orbital Spaceports to support spacecraft assembly, storage, repair, maintenance, refueling, launch, and recovery; (3) a Bridge Between Worlds to transport cargo and crews to the moon and beyond to Mars; (4) Prospecting and Resource Utilization Systems to map and characterize the resources of planets, moons, and asteroids; and (5) Closed Ecology Biospheres. The progress in these five field is reviewed.

Cooperation Is Not Enough—Exploring Social-Ecological Micro-Foundations for Sustainable Common-Pool Resource Use

PubMed Central

Wijermans, Nanda; Schlüter, Maja; Lindahl, Therese

2016-01-01

Cooperation amongst resource users holds the key to overcoming the social dilemma that characterizes community-based common-pool resource management. But is cooperation alone enough to achieve sustainable resource use? The short answer is no. Developing management strategies in a complex social-ecological environment also requires ecological knowledge and approaches to deal with perceived environmental uncertainty. Recent behavioral experimental research indicates variation in the degree to which a group of users can identify a sustainable exploitation level. In this paper, we identify social-ecological micro-foundations that facilitate cooperative sustainable common-pool resource use. We do so by using an agent-based model (ABM) that is informed by behavioral common-pool resource experiments. In these experiments, groups that cooperate do not necessarily manage the resource sustainably, but also over- or underexploit. By reproducing the patterns of the behavioral experiments in a qualitative way, the ABM represents a social-ecological explanation for the experimental observations. We find that the ecological knowledge of each group member cannot sufficiently explain the relationship between cooperation and sustainable resource use. Instead, the development of a sustainable exploitation level depends on the distribution of ecological knowledge among the group members, their influence on each other’s knowledge, and the environmental uncertainty the individuals perceive. The study provides insights about critical social-ecological micro-foundations underpinning collective action and sustainable resource management. These insights may inform policy-making, but also point to future research needs regarding the mechanisms of social learning, the development of shared management strategies and the interplay of social and ecological uncertainty. PMID:27556175

Cooperation Is Not Enough—Exploring Social-Ecological Micro-Foundations for Sustainable Common-Pool Resource Use [corrected].

PubMed

Schill, Caroline; Wijermans, Nanda; Schlüter, Maja; Lindahl, Therese

2016-01-01

Cooperation amongst resource users holds the key to overcoming the social dilemma that characterizes community-based common-pool resource management. But is cooperation alone enough to achieve sustainable resource use? The short answer is no. Developing management strategies in a complex social-ecological environment also requires ecological knowledge and approaches to deal with perceived environmental uncertainty. Recent behavioral experimental research indicates variation in the degree to which a group of users can identify a sustainable exploitation level. In this paper, we identify social-ecological micro-foundations that facilitate cooperative sustainable common-pool resource use. We do so by using an agent-based model (ABM) that is informed by behavioral common-pool resource experiments. In these experiments, groups that cooperate do not necessarily manage the resource sustainably, but also over- or underexploit. By reproducing the patterns of the behavioral experiments in a qualitative way, the ABM represents a social-ecological explanation for the experimental observations. We find that the ecological knowledge of each group member cannot sufficiently explain the relationship between cooperation and sustainable resource use. Instead, the development of a sustainable exploitation level depends on the distribution of ecological knowledge among the group members, their influence on each other's knowledge, and the environmental uncertainty the individuals perceive. The study provides insights about critical social-ecological micro-foundations underpinning collective action and sustainable resource management. These insights may inform policy-making, but also point to future research needs regarding the mechanisms of social learning, the development of shared management strategies and the interplay of social and ecological uncertainty.

The Nevada NSF EPSCoR infrastructure for climate change science, education, and outreach project: highlights and progress on investigations of ecological change and water resources along elevational gradients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saito, L.; Biondi, F.; Fenstermaker, L. F.; Arnone, J.; Devitt, D.; Riddle, B.; Young, M.

2010-12-01

In 2008, the Nevada System of Higher Education received a 5-year, $15 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). The mission of the project is to create a statewide interdisciplinary program to stimulate transformative research, education, and outreach about the effects of regional climate change on ecosystem services (especially water resources), and support use of this knowledge by policy makers and stakeholders. The overarching question that this effort will address is: how will climate change affect water resources, disturbance regimes and linked ecosystem and human services? While the overall project includes cyberinfrastructure, policy, education and climate modeling, this presentation will focus on the ecological change and water resources components. The goals of these two components are: 1) improving understanding of processes controlling local- and basin-wide impacts of climate on species dynamics, disturbance regimes, and water recharge rates; 2) evaluating interactions between landscape-level processes and biophysical indicators; 3) evaluating interactions between surface and groundwater systems; 4) predicting changes in wildfire regime, primary productivity, and biodiversity (including invasive species); and 5) assessing how interactions between water and ecology will differ under climate change and/or climate variability scenarios. To achieve these goals, the two components will quantify present-day climate variability at multiple temporal and spatial scales, including at multiple elevations within Nevada’s Basin and Range ecosystem continuum. This presentation will discuss key elements for achieving these goals, including the establishment of instrumented transects spanning a range of elevations and vegetation zones in eastern and southern Nevada.

Progress in the ecology and conservation of giant pandas.

PubMed

Wei, Fuwen; Swaisgood, Ronald; Hu, Yibo; Nie, Yonggang; Yan, Li; Zhang, Zejun; Qi, Dunwu; Zhu, Lifeng

2015-12-01

Giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) conservation is a possible success story in the making. If extinction of this iconic endangered species can be avoided, the species will become a showcase program for the Chinese government and its collaborators. We reviewed the major advancements in ecological science for the giant panda, examining how these advancements have contributed to panda conservation. Pandas' morphological and behavioral adaptations to a diet of bamboo, which bear strong influence on movement ecology, have been well studied, providing knowledge to guide management actions ranging from reserve design to climate change mitigation. Foraging ecology has also provided essential information used in the creation of landscape models of panda habitat. Because habitat loss and fragmentation are major drivers of the panda population decline, efforts have been made to help identify core habitat areas, establish where habitat corridors are needed, and prioritize areas for protection and restoration. Thus, habitat models have provided guidance for the Chinese governments' creation of 67 protected areas. Behavioral research has revealed a complex and efficient communication system and documented the need for protection of habitat that serves as a communication platform for bringing the sexes together for mating. Further research shows that den sites in old-growth forests may be a limiting resource, indicating potential value in providing alternative den sites for rearing offspring. Advancements in molecular ecology have been revolutionary and have been applied to population census, determining population structure and genetic diversity, evaluating connectivity following habitat fragmentation, and understanding dispersal patterns. These advancements form a foundation for increasing the application of adaptive management approaches to move panda conservation forward more rapidly. Although the Chinese government has made great progress in setting aside protected areas, future emphasis will be improved management of pandas and their habitat. © 2015 Society for Conservation Biology.

Genome Resource Banking of Biomedically Important Laboratory Animals

PubMed Central

Agca, Yuksel

2014-01-01

Genome resource banking (GRB) is the systematic collection, storage, and re-distribution of biomaterials in an organized, logistical, and secure manner. Genome cyrobanks usually contain biomaterials and associated genomic information essential for progression of biomedicine, human health, and research. In that regard, appropriate genome cryobanks could provide essential biomaterials for both current and future research projects in the form of various cell types and tissues, including sperm, oocytes, embryos, embryonic or adult stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells, and gonadal tissues. In addition to cryobanked germplasm, cryobanking of DNA, serum, blood products, and tissues from scientifically, economically and ecologically important species has become a common practice. For revitalization of the whole organism, cryopreserved germplasm in conjunction with assisted reproductive technologies (ART), offer a powerful approach for research model management, as well as assisting in animal production for agriculture, conservation, and human reproductive medicine. Recently, many developed and developing countries have allocated substantial resources to establish genome resources banks which are responsible for safeguarding scientifically, economically and ecologically important wild type, mutant and transgenic plants, fish, and local livestock breeds, as well as wildlife species. This review is dedicated to the memory of Dr. John K. Critser, who had made profound contributions to the science of cryobiology and establishment of genome research and resources centers for mice, rats and swine. Emphasis will be given to application of GRBs to species with substantial contributions to the advancement of biomedicine and human health. PMID:22981880

A Methodology to Evaluate Ecological Resources and Risk Using Two Case Studies at the Department of Energy's Hanford Site

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burger, Joanna; Gochfeld, Michael; Bunn, Amoret; Downs, Janelle; Jeitner, Christian; Pittfield, Taryn; Salisbury, Jennifer; Kosson, David

2017-03-01

An assessment of the potential risks to ecological resources from remediation activities or other perturbations should involve a quantitative evaluation of resources on the remediation site and in the surrounding environment. We developed a risk methodology to rapidly evaluate potential impact on ecological resources for the U.S. Department of Energy's Hanford Site in southcentral Washington State. We describe the application of the risk evaluation for two case studies to illustrate its applicability. The ecological assessment involves examining previous sources of information for the site, defining different resource levels from 0 to 5. We also developed a risk rating scale from non-discernable to very high. Field assessment is the critical step to determine resource levels or to determine if current conditions are the same as previously evaluated. We provide a rapid assessment method for current ecological conditions that can be compared to previous site-specific data, or that can be used to assess resource value on other sites where ecological information is not generally available. The method is applicable to other Department of Energy's sites, where its development may involve a range of state regulators, resource trustees, Tribes and other stakeholders. Achieving consistency across Department of Energy's sites for valuation of ecological resources on remediation sites will assure Congress and the public that funds and personnel are being deployed appropriately.

A Methodology to Evaluate Ecological Resources and Risk Using Two Case Studies at the Department of Energy's Hanford Site.

PubMed

Burger, Joanna; Gochfeld, Michael; Bunn, Amoret; Downs, Janelle; Jeitner, Christian; Pittfield, Taryn; Salisbury, Jennifer; Kosson, David

2017-03-01

An assessment of the potential risks to ecological resources from remediation activities or other perturbations should involve a quantitative evaluation of resources on the remediation site and in the surrounding environment. We developed a risk methodology to rapidly evaluate potential impact on ecological resources for the U.S. Department of Energy's Hanford Site in southcentral Washington State. We describe the application of the risk evaluation for two case studies to illustrate its applicability. The ecological assessment involves examining previous sources of information for the site, defining different resource levels from 0 to 5. We also developed a risk rating scale from non-discernable to very high. Field assessment is the critical step to determine resource levels or to determine if current conditions are the same as previously evaluated. We provide a rapid assessment method for current ecological conditions that can be compared to previous site-specific data, or that can be used to assess resource value on other sites where ecological information is not generally available. The method is applicable to other Department of Energy's sites, where its development may involve a range of state regulators, resource trustees, Tribes and other stakeholders. Achieving consistency across Department of Energy's sites for valuation of ecological resources on remediation sites will assure Congress and the public that funds and personnel are being deployed appropriately.

A tentative discussion on the monitoring of water resources in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Jianqing; Dai, Ning; Wu, Mengying; Wang, Guangsheng

2016-10-01

With the rapid economy development and social civilization progress, the Chinese Government also is improving ecological environmental conditions. More efforts have been made to solve water problems through the implementation of stringent water resources management, as a key government policy on water. Thus, monitoring of water resources has been strengthened, being a main component of the hydrological work in recent years. Compared with routine hydrological monitoring, water resources monitoring pays more attention to the quantity and quality variations of regional waters, to reflect the status of water in river basins and administrative regions. In this paper, the overall layout of the hydrometric network in China is presented, monitoring efforts of the natural water cycle and water consumptions are analyzed, methodologies of water resources monitoring, which are commonly applied in the country, are summed up. Taking the hydrometric network planning on interprovincial boundary waterbodies as example, a summary of the planning at interprovincial boundary river sections is presented. The planning can meet the need of water resources management of administrative divisions. It can also improve the overall water resources monitoring for the country.

[Darwinism as a constraint of ecological pluralism].

PubMed

Giliarov, A M

2003-01-01

In his respond to critical remarks of Mirkin (2003), the author claims that pluralism in ecology is not only its strength but also a weakness. Contemporary ecology became less pluralistic and this can be considered as good sign of maturing science. Ecological pluralism can be exemplified by the coexistence in 1920-30s of two different approaches to plant community: that of Frederic Clements in USA and that of Josias Braun-Blanquet in France. However the way to progress in this branch of ecology was paved rather by heretical ideas of Henry Gleason in USA and Ramensky in Russia (both authors independently developed non-holistic view of community as an assemblage of individualistically distributed species) than by "peaceful" coexistence of well-established schools, representatives of which tried not to interfere into argumentation of each other. Notable success in ecology of last decades was connected with several new methodologies, e.g. macroecology that concerned large scale of space and time. However Darwinism in its attempt to explain the order of nature referring to its origin remains the most universal and fruitful methodology of ecology. The success of Darwinism in ecology is understandable because this generalizing theory is based on the same universal principles that underlie the survival of any population. Ecologists and evolutionary biologists trying to understand various natural patterns actually deal with the same fundamental laws, i.e. exponential population growth, limitation of this growth by resource shortage and/or press of predators, the existence of individual variability in survival, etc.

The evolutionary and behavioral modification of consumer responses to environmental change.

PubMed

Abrams, Peter A

2014-02-21

How will evolution or other forms of adaptive change alter the response of a consumer species' population density to environmentally driven changes in population growth parameters? This question is addressed by analyzing some simple consumer-resource models to separate the ecological and evolutionary components of the population's response. Ecological responses are always decreased population size, but evolution of traits that have effects on both resource uptake rate and another fitness-related parameter may magnify, offset, or reverse this population decrease. Evolution can change ecologically driven decreases in population size to increases; this is likely when: (1) resources are initially below the density that maximizes resource growth, and (2) the evolutionary response decreases the consumer's resource uptake rate. Evolutionary magnification of the ecological decreases in population size can occur when the environmental change is higher trait-independent mortality. Such evolution-driven decreases are most likely when uptake-rate traits increase and the resource is initially below its maximum growth density. It is common for the difference between the new eco-evolutionary equilibrium and the new ecological equilibrium to be larger than that between the original and new ecological equilibrium densities. The relative magnitudes of ecological and evolutionary effects often depend sensitively on the magnitude of the environmental change and the nature of resource growth. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

VALUATION OF ECOLOGICAL RESOURCES: INTEGRATION OF ECOLOGY AND SOCIOECONOMICS IN ENVIRONMENTAL DECISION MAKING

EPA Science Inventory

In October 2003, a Pellston Workshop on Valuation of Ecological Resources was organized by SETAC to examine the integration of ecological assessment and socioeconomics to improve environmental decision-making. The workshop brought together a multidisciplinary group of distinguis...

A Methodology to Evaluate Ecological Resources and Risk Using Two Case Studies at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site

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

Burger, Joanna; Gochfeld, Michael; Bunn, Amoret

An assessment of the potential risks to ecological resources from remediation activities or other perturbations should involve a quantitative evaluation of resources on the remediation site and in the surrounding environment. We developed a risk methodology to rapidly evaluate potential impact on ecological resources for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in southcentral Washington State. We describe the application of the risk evaluation for two case studies to illustrate its applicability. The ecological assessment involves examining previous sources of information for the site, defining different resource levels from 0 to 5. We also developed a risk rating scale frommore » nondiscernable to very high. Field assessment is the critical step to determine resource levels or to determine if current conditions are the same as previously evaluated. We provide a rapid assessment method for current ecological conditions that can be compared to previous site-specific data, or that can be used to assess resource value on other sites where ecological information is not generally available. The method is applicable to other Department of Energy’s sites, where its development may involve a range of state regulators, resource trustees, Tribes and other stakeholders. Achieving consistency across Department of Energy’s sites for valuation of ecological resources on remediation sites will assure Congress and the public that funds and personnel are being deployed appropriately.« less

Development of an integrated water resources management plan for the Lake Manyara sub-basin, Northern Tanzania

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ngana, J. O.; Mwalyosi, R. B. B.; Madulu, N. F.; Yanda, P. Z.

Water resources management in Lake Manyara sub-basin is an issue of very high significance as the sub-basin hosts a number of national and global assets of great socio-cultural, ecological and economic values. The sub-basin comprise of a Biosphere Reserve with boosting tourism from Lake Manyara National Park with a variety of wildlife population, large livestock population and highly fertile land for agricultural production. The prevailing system of uncoordinated water resources management in the sub-basin cannot sustain the ever increasing water needs of the various expanding sectors, therefore a strategy must be sought to integrate the various sectoral needs against the available water resources in order to attain both economic and ecological sustainability. Through participatory approach with the stakeholders, the study has established key issues, demonstrated considerable experience in water resources management in the sub-basin including existence of water boards, water committees in some districts as well as land resources management practices However, a number of constraints were noted which inhibit sustainable water resources management including ignorance of water policies, conflicting sectoral policies, lack of coordination between sectors, high in migration rates into the basin, heavy in migration of livestock, conflicts between sectors, poor land use resulting in soil erosion and sedimentation, lack of comprehensive data base on water resources and water needs for : domestic, tourism, livestock, irrigation, wild life and environmental flows. As a way forward it was recommended that a basin wide legally mandated body (involving all levels) be established to oversee water use in the sub-basin. Other strategies include capacity building of stakeholders on water natural resources management policies, water rights and enforcement of laws. This progress report paper highlights the wealth of knowledge that stakeholders possess on water resources management and using that platform develop a participatory Integrated water resources management where roles and responsibilities are ironed out.

Ethnic differences in ecological concerns: Spanish-speaking Hispanics are more concerned than others

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

Burger, Joanna; Greenberg, Michael; Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University, 33 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901-1958

We postulated that environmental concern encompasses a wide range of different issues, often lumping pollution with habitat loss (or land use) and ecological resources (fish and wildlife). In this paper, we compare perceptions about a range of environmental and ecological resource issues, and explore ethnic/racial differences. We surveyed 1513 residents of New Jersey about 'environmental concerns', using both general environmental questions (two questions: How serious are environmental problems in New Jersey? Are you concerned about the loss of open space?) and ecological resource questions (12 questions: e.g., how important is planting trees in your neighborhood, how concerned are you aboutmore » loss of breeding and feeding habitat for fish and birds?) in New Jersey. Not all concerns were rated equally. For the ecological questions, there were no ethnic differences in concerns over preserving areas around water supplies, loss of places to hunt and fish, and loss of places for quiet walks and cycling, but there were for the other 9 ecological concerns. For eight of these nine concerns, Spanish-speaking Hispanics were more concerned than others (including English-speaking Hispanics). We divided the ecological resources into three categories: ecological services (clean water and safety), ecological resources (fish and wildlife), and recreational services. The strongest correlates of people's association with enlarging and enhancing recreational services were Spanish-speaking Hispanics, who are supportive of regulations and believe local government is not doing enough for environmental problems. People concerned about the loss of ecological resources and open space believe the federal government and the state are not doing enough for the environment, were non-Hispanic White, want continued environmental regulations, were longer-term residents, were high school graduates, and were older (45-54 years). People interested in ecological services were college-educated, non-White, not rich, females that did not trust DEP's environmental actions, and thought the state was not doing enough environmentally. There was a high correlation between general environmental concern and the ecological resource variables for the population overall, and for each ethnic group. Overall, only 39% of the subjects were very concerned about the seriousness of environmental problems in New Jersey, yet from 36% to 81% of the people were very concerned about 11 of 12 ecological issues. This indicates that people respond different to the term 'environmental problems' compared to specific 'ecological resource' issues. The greatest concern (81%) was for preserving areas around water supplies and cleaning up garbage in the parks, and the least concern was for the loss of places to hunt and fish (26%). Our results indicate that people distinguish between general environmental concern and ecological concerns, as well as distinguishing ecological services from ecological resources.« less

78 FR 65390 - Exemption From Licensing for Disposal of Low-Activity Radioactive Waste at the US Ecology Idaho...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-10-31

... Disposal of Low-Activity Radioactive Waste at the US Ecology Idaho Resource Conservation and Recovery Act..., Pennsylvania, at the US Ecology Idaho (USEI) Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Subtitle C disposal... from the US Ecology, Inc. (US Ecology), dated July 7, 2013 (ADAMS Accession No. ML13198A017), for...

Competition both drives and impedes diversification in a model adaptive radiation

PubMed Central

Bailey, Susan F.; Dettman, Jeremy R.; Rainey, Paul B.; Kassen, Rees

2013-01-01

Competitors are known to be important in governing the outcome of evolutionary diversification during an adaptive radiation, but the precise mechanisms by which they exert their effects remain elusive. Using the model adaptive radiation of Pseudomonas fluorescens, we show experimentally that the effect of competition on diversification of a focal lineage depends on both the strength of competition and the ability of the competitors to diversify. We provide evidence that the extent of diversification in the absence of interspecific competitors depends on the strength of resource competition. We also show that the presence of competitors can actually increase diversity by increasing interspecific resource competition. Competitors that themselves are able to diversify prevent diversification of the focal lineage by removing otherwise available ecological opportunities. These results suggest that the progress of an adaptive radiation depends ultimately on the strength of resource competition, an effect that can be exaggerated or impeded by the presence of competitors. PMID:23843392

Model of Environmental Development of the Urbanized Areas: Accounting of Ecological and other Factors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abanina, E. N.; Pandakov, K. G.; Agapov, D. A.; Sorokina, Yu V.; Vasiliev, E. H.

2017-05-01

Modern cities and towns are often characterized by poor administration, which could be the reason of environmental degradation, the poverty growth, decline in economic growth and social isolation. In these circumstances it is really important to conduct fresh researches forming new ways of sustainable development of administrative districts. This development of the urban areas depends on many interdependent factors: ecological, economic, social. In this article we show some theoretical aspects of forming a model of environmental progress of the urbanized areas. We submit some model containing four levels including natural resources capacities of the territory, its social features, economic growth and human impact. The author describes the interrelations of elements of the model. In this article the program of environmental development of a city is offered and it could be used in any urban area.

A Learning Progression Should Address Regression: Insights from Developing Non-Linear Reasoning in Ecology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hovardas, Tasos

2016-01-01

Although ecological systems at varying scales involve non-linear interactions, learners insist thinking in a linear fashion when they deal with ecological phenomena. The overall objective of the present contribution was to propose a hypothetical learning progression for developing non-linear reasoning in prey-predator systems and to provide…

A Learning Progression for Energy in Socio-Ecological Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jin, Hui; Anderson, Charles W.

2012-01-01

This article reports on our work of developing a learning progression focusing on K-12 students' performances of using energy concept in their accounts of carbon-transforming processes in socio-ecological systems. Carbon-transforming processes--the ecological carbon cycle and the combustion of biomass and fossil fuels--provide all of the energy…

The Ecology of Technological Progress: How Symbiosis and Competition Affect the Growth of Technology Domains

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carnabuci, Gianluca

2010-01-01

We show that the progress of technological knowledge is an inherently ecological process, wherein the growth rate of each technology domain depends on dynamics occurring in "other" technology domains. We identify two sources of ecological interdependence among technology domains. First, there are symbiotic interdependencies, implying…

Concept and Connotation of Water Resources Carrying Capacity in Water Ecological Civilization Construction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chao, Zhilong; Song, Xiaoyu; Feng, Xianghua

2018-01-01

Water ecological civilization construction is based on the water resources carrying capacity, guided by the sustainable development concept, adhered to the human-water harmony thoughts. This paper has comprehensive analyzed the concept and characteristics of the carrying capacity of water resources in the water ecological civilization construction, and discussed the research methods and evaluation index system of water carrying capacity in the water ecological civilization construction, finally pointed out that the problems and solutions of water carrying capacity in the water ecological civilization construction and put forward the future research prospect.

Effective Ecological Restoration of Collapsed Ecosystems - Linking Soil, Water and Society

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petursdottir, Thorunn; Finger, David

2014-05-01

All natural resources, utilized by humans are embedded in complex social-ecological systems (SESs). To maintain the systems' sustainability, the SESs needs to be managed within their resilience optimum, considering both social and ecological elements. Throughout the centuries the humankind has often failed in doing so. Overexploitation of natural resources has thus widely disrupted equilibrium within the respective SESs, driving unforeseen changes of ecosystems worldwide. Anthropogenic factors such as poor institutional structure on resource utilization and weak policies in combination to environmental factors like droughts, fires or other unpredictable events have ruptured ecosystems' resilience and caused global degradation on a scale that currently threatens the Earth's welfare. As an example it's worth to mention that up to 40% of the world's agricultural land is severely degraded mainly due to unsustainable landuse. Once an ecosystem, or part/s of it, have collapsed, ecological restoration is almost always necessary to overcome the threshold/s that may prevent the system from self-recovering. It also re-activates the system's environmental cycles like the water, carbon and nutrient circulation. Although soil is the fundamental body of terrestrial ecosystems, water availability is of equal importance and should be taken more into consideration in restoration than currently is done. Based on that, we will focus on how to best manage effective large-scale ecological restoration (LSER) of collapsed ecosystems and link it to water catchment areas. LSER is a fundamental social-ecological activity that substantially can improve ecosystem condition, human livelihood and if well organized, facilitate improved management of natural resources. By definition, restoration of ecological integrity and functions is the fundamental basis for all restoration activities. But to achieve long-term sustainability of LSER activities the initial set of rules/policies established by the stakeholders or the government must be congruent with local condition in context to regional, national and even global perspectives. The related parties need to be in agreement to the content of the existing policies related to large-scale restoration and collectively work on achieving their targets. The actors must operate in line with the existing laws and legislation. Furthermore, all the multiple layers of the governance system need to cooperate internally in a transparent and decentralized way on attaining LSER targets; through for instance local restoration projects and improved land management. To assess if the policies are facilitating the expected LSER progress, a monitoring and evaluation system should also be in place. Researches indicate that incoherency within the governance system and lack of social cohesion can significantly reduce the expected outcome of restoration projects. Here we will present an ecological restoration model based on a SES framework that can be used to analyse the SESs the restoration activities will take place within. The model can also be used to organize restoration projects on different scales, to identify potential leverage points or gaps within the SES and to design a tailor-made monitoring and evaluation program.

NORMATIVE SCIENCE: A CORRUPTING INFLUENCE IN ECOLOGICAL AND NATURAL RESOURCE POLICY

EPA Science Inventory

Effectively resolving the typical ecological or natural resource policy issue requires providing an array of scientific information to decision-makers. The ability of scientists (and scientific information) to constructively inform ecological policy deliberations has been dimi...

Phylogenetic patterns of geographical and ecological diversification in the subgenus Drosophila.

PubMed

Morales-Hojas, Ramiro; Vieira, Jorge

2012-01-01

Colonisation of new geographic regions and/or of new ecological resources can result in rapid species diversification into the new ecological niches available. Members of the subgenus Drosophila are distributed across the globe and show a large diversity of ecological niches. Furthermore, taxonomic classification of Drosophila includes the rank radiation, which refers to closely related species groups. Nevertheless, it has never been tested if these taxonomic radiations correspond to evolutionary radiations. Here we present a study of the patterns of diversification of Drosophila to test for increased diversification rates in relation to the geographic and ecological diversification processes. For this, we have estimated and dated a phylogeny of 218 species belonging to the major species groups of the subgenus. The obtained phylogenies are largely consistent with previous studies and indicate that the major groups appeared during the Oligocene/Miocene transition or early Miocene, characterized by a trend of climate warming with brief periods of glaciation. Ancestral reconstruction of geographic ranges and ecological resource use suggest at least two dispersals to the Neotropics from the ancestral Asiatic tropical disribution, and several transitions to specialized ecological resource use (mycophagous and cactophilic). Colonisation of new geographic regions and/or of new ecological resources can result in rapid species diversification into the new ecological niches available. However, diversification analyses show no significant support for adaptive radiations as a result of geographic dispersal or ecological resource shift. Also, cactophily has not resulted in an increase in the diversification rate of the repleta and related groups. It is thus concluded that the taxonomic radiations do not correspond to adaptive radiations.

Ecosystem Matters: Activity and Resource Guide for Environmental Educators.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adams, Mary; And Others

An ecological approach involved making conscious decisions which result in actions that responsibly contribute to the long-term stewardship of natural resources. This activity and resource guide was designed for use by both educators and resource managers to supplement existing courses and programs concerning ecological matters. These…

Interspecific interference competition at the resource patch scale: do large herbivores spatially avoid elephants while accessing water?

PubMed

Ferry, Nicolas; Dray, Stéphane; Fritz, Hervé; Valeix, Marion

2016-11-01

Animals may anticipate and try to avoid, at some costs, physical encounters with other competitors. This may ultimately impact their foraging distribution and intake rates. Such cryptic interference competition is difficult to measure in the field, and extremely little is known at the interspecific level. We tested the hypothesis that smaller species avoid larger ones because of potential costs of interference competition and hence expected them to segregate from larger competitors at the scale of a resource patch. We assessed fine-scale spatial segregation patterns between three African herbivore species (zebra Equus quagga, kudu Tragelaphus strepsiceros and giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis) and a megaherbivore, the African elephant Loxodonta africana, at the scale of water resource patches in the semi-arid ecosystem of Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. Nine waterholes were monitored every two weeks during the dry season of a drought year, and observational scans of the spatial distribution of all herbivores were performed every 15 min. We developed a methodological approach to analyse such fine-scale spatial data. Elephants increasingly used waterholes as the dry season progressed, as did the probability of co-occurrence and agonistic interaction with elephants for the three study species. All three species segregated from elephants at the beginning of the dry season, suggesting a spatial avoidance of elephants and the existence of costs of being close to them. However, contrarily to our expectations, herbivores did not segregate from elephants the rest of the dry season but tended to increasingly aggregate with elephants as the dry season progressed. We discuss these surprising results and the existence of a trade-off between avoidance of interspecific interference competition and other potential factors such as access to quality water, which may have relative associated costs that change with the time of the year. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2016 British Ecological Society.

Inferring biodiversity maintenance mechanisms from ecological pattern

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ostling, Annette

Among a set of competitors for a single common resource, the best will simply exclude the others. Yet in nature we can see astounding diversity of competing species. Do close similarities in species' response to the local environment primarily explain their coexistence? Or is this diversity possible because of differences between species that stabilize their coexistence? And if so, what particular differences between species are important in particular communities? Some ecological communities lend themselves to experimental manipulation to begin to answer these questions. Yet for many other communities, such as tree species in forests, the logistical hurdles to this approach are daunting. Faster progress could be made in ecology if insight into biodiversity maintenance mechanisms could be gained from patterns exhibited in local ecological communities, such as how coexisting species are distributed in their ecological traits and relative abundance. Hurdles that we need to overcome to be able to gain such insight include: 1) further developing neutral theory, a quantitative process-based null model of community pattern resulting when species similarities are what allow their coexistence, and 2) better understanding what patterns to expect when species differences dominate instead, particularly in the context of stochasticity and immigration. I will describe our ongoing research to overcome these hurdles, to provide better tools for analyzing observed pattern. National Science Foundation Advancing Theory in Biology Grant 1038678, Danish National Research Foundation Grant DNRF 96 for the Center of Macroecology, Evolution and Climate.

The 50 Most Important Questions Relating to the Maintenance and Restoration of an Ecological Continuum in the European Alps

PubMed Central

Walzer, Chris; Kowalczyk, Christine; Alexander, Jake M.; Baur, Bruno; Bogliani, Giuseppe; Brun, Jean-Jacques; Füreder, Leopold; Guth, Marie-Odile; Haller, Ruedi; Holderegger, Rolf; Kohler, Yann; Kueffer, Christoph; Righetti, Antonio; Spaar, Reto; Sutherland, William J.; Ullrich-Schneider, Aurelia; Vanpeene-Bruhier, Sylvie N.; Scheurer, Thomas

2013-01-01

The European Alps harbour a unique and species-rich biodiversity, which is increasingly impacted by habitat fragmentation through land-use changes, urbanization and expanding transport infrastructure. In this study, we identified the 50 most important questions relating to the maintenance and restoration of an ecological continuum – the connectedness of ecological processes across many scales including trophic relationship and disturbance processes and hydro-ecological flows in the European Alps. We initiated and implemented a trans-national priority setting exercise, inviting 48 institutions including researchers, conservation practitioners, NGOs, policymakers and administrators from the Alpine region. The exercise was composed of an initial call for pertinent questions, a first online evaluation of the received questions and a final discussion and selection process during a joint workshop. The participating institutions generated 484 initial questions, which were condensed to the 50 most important questions by 16 workshop participants. We suggest new approaches in tackling the issue of an ecological continuum in the Alps by analysing and classifying the characteristics of the resulting questions in a non-prioritized form as well as in a visual conceptualisation of the inter-dependencies among these questions. This priority setting exercise will support research and funding institutions in channelling their capacities and resources towards questions that need to be urgently addressed in order to facilitate significant progress in biodiversity conservation in the European Alps. PMID:23341928

Spatially balanced survey designs for natural resources

EPA Science Inventory

Ecological resource monitoring programs typically require the use of a probability survey design to select locations or entities to be physically sampled in the field. The ecological resource of interest, the target population, occurs over a spatial domain and the sample selecte...

Genetic Breeding and Diversity of the Genus Passiflora: Progress and Perspectives in Molecular and Genetic Studies

PubMed Central

Cerqueira-Silva, Carlos Bernard M.; Jesus, Onildo N.; Santos, Elisa S. L.; Corrêa, Ronan X.; Souza, Anete P.

2014-01-01

Despite the ecological and economic importance of passion fruit (Passiflora spp.), molecular markers have only recently been utilized in genetic studies of this genus. In addition, both basic genetic researches related to population studies and pre-breeding programs of passion fruit remain scarce for most Passiflora species. Considering the number of Passiflora species and the increasing use of these species as a resource for ornamental, medicinal, and food purposes, the aims of this review are the following: (i) to present the current condition of the passion fruit crop; (ii) to quantify the applications and effects of using molecular markers in studies of Passiflora; (iii) to present the contributions of genetic engineering for passion fruit culture; and (iv) to discuss the progress and perspectives of this research. Thus, the present review aims to summarize and discuss the relationship between historical and current progress on the culture, breeding, and molecular genetics of passion fruit. PMID:25196515

Social Ecology, Deep Ecology and the Future of Green Political Thought.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tokar, Brian

1988-01-01

Describes the differences which divide the social ecology movement and the Deep Ecology Movement. Discusses how each views population ecology, politics, natural resources, and ecological living. Calls for a unified ecological movement. (CW)

Integrating traditional ecological knowledge with western science for optimal natural resource management

Treesearch

Serra J. Hoagland

2017-01-01

Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) has been recognized within indigenous communities for millennia; however, traditional ecological knowledge has received growing attention within the western science (WS) paradigm over the past twenty-five years. Federal agencies, national organizations, and university programs dedicated to natural resource management are beginning...

Freshwater resources in the Hoosier-Shawnee ecological assessment area

Treesearch

Matt R. Whiles; James E. Garvey

2004-01-01

The Hoosier-Shawnee Ecological Assessment Area contains 40 major watersheds with unique hydrological, ecological, and socioeconomic features. Depending on the watershed, major groundwater resources are a combination of sandstone, carbonate, and semiconsolidated or unconsolidated sand/gravel aquifers. Approximately 69,000 miles of streams flow through the assessment...

Permanent Genetic Resources added to Molecular Ecology Resources Database 1 December 2009–31 January 2010

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

This article documents the addition of 220 microsatellite marker loci to the Molecular Ecology Resources Database. Loci were developed for the following species: Allanblackia floribunda, Amblyraja radiata, Bactrocera cucurbitae, Brachycaudus helichrysi, Calopogonium mucunoides, Dissodactylus primiti...

An ecology-oriented exploitation mode of groundwater resources in the northern Tianshan Mountains, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shang, Haimin; Wang, Wenke; Dai, Zhenxue; Duan, Lei; Zhao, Yaqian; Zhang, Jing

2016-12-01

In recent years, ecological degradation caused by irrational groundwater exploitation has been of growing concern in arid and semiarid regions. To address the groundwater-ecological issues, this paper proposes a groundwater-resource exploitation mode to evaluate the tradeoff between groundwater development and ecological environment in the northern Tianshan Mountains, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Field surveys and remote sensing studies were conducted to analyze the relation between the distribution of hydrological conditions and the occurrence of ecological types. The results show that there is a good correlation between groundwater depth and the supergene ecological type. Numerical simulations and ecological assessment models were applied to develop an ecology-oriented exploitation mode of groundwater resources. The mode allows the groundwater levels in different zones to be regulated by optimizing groundwater exploitation modes. The prediction results show that the supergene ecological quality will be better in 2020 and even more groundwater can be exploited in this mode. This study provides guidance for regional groundwater management, especially in regions with an obvious water scarcity.

An ecology-oriented exploitation mode of groundwater resources in the northern foot of Tianshan Mountain, China

DOE PAGES

Shang, Haimin; Wang, Wenke; Dai, Zhenxue; ...

2016-10-10

In recent years, ecological degradation caused by irrational groundwater exploitation has been of growing concern in arid and semiarid regions. To address the groundwater-ecological issues, this paper proposes a groundwater-resource exploitation mode to evaluate the tradeoff between groundwater development and ecological environment in the northern Tianshan Mountains, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Field surveys and remote sensing studies were conducted to analyze the relation between the distribution of hydrological conditions and the occurrence of ecological types. The results show that there is a good correlation between groundwater depth and the supergene ecological type. Numerical simulations and ecological assessment modelsmore » were applied to develop an ecology-oriented exploitation mode of groundwater resources. The mode allows the groundwater levels in different zones to be regulated by optimizing groundwater exploitation modes. The prediction results show that the supergene ecological quality will be better in 2020 and even more groundwater can be exploited in this mode. This study provides guidance for regional groundwater management, especially in regions with an obvious water scarcity.« less

An ecology-oriented exploitation mode of groundwater resources in the northern foot of Tianshan Mountain, China

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

Shang, Haimin; Wang, Wenke; Dai, Zhenxue

In recent years, ecological degradation caused by irrational groundwater exploitation has been of growing concern in arid and semiarid regions. To address the groundwater-ecological issues, this paper proposes a groundwater-resource exploitation mode to evaluate the tradeoff between groundwater development and ecological environment in the northern Tianshan Mountains, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Field surveys and remote sensing studies were conducted to analyze the relation between the distribution of hydrological conditions and the occurrence of ecological types. The results show that there is a good correlation between groundwater depth and the supergene ecological type. Numerical simulations and ecological assessment modelsmore » were applied to develop an ecology-oriented exploitation mode of groundwater resources. The mode allows the groundwater levels in different zones to be regulated by optimizing groundwater exploitation modes. The prediction results show that the supergene ecological quality will be better in 2020 and even more groundwater can be exploited in this mode. This study provides guidance for regional groundwater management, especially in regions with an obvious water scarcity.« less

Statistical physics of community ecology: a cavity solution to MacArthur’s consumer resource model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Advani, Madhu; Bunin, Guy; Mehta, Pankaj

2018-03-01

A central question in ecology is to understand the ecological processes that shape community structure. Niche-based theories have emphasized the important role played by competition for maintaining species diversity. Many of these insights have been derived using MacArthur’s consumer resource model (MCRM) or its generalizations. Most theoretical work on the MCRM has focused on small ecosystems with a few species and resources. However theoretical insights derived from small ecosystems many not scale up to large ecosystems with many resources and species because large systems with many interacting components often display new emergent behaviors that cannot be understood or deduced from analyzing smaller systems. To address these shortcomings, we develop a statistical physics inspired cavity method to analyze MCRM when both the number of species and the number of resources is large. Unlike previous work in this limit, our theory addresses resource dynamics and resource depletion and demonstrates that species generically and consistently perturb their environments and significantly modify available ecological niches. We show how our cavity approach naturally generalizes niche theory to large ecosystems by accounting for the effect of collective phenomena on species invasion and ecological stability. Our theory suggests that such phenomena are a generic feature of large, natural ecosystems and must be taken into account when analyzing and interpreting community structure. It also highlights the important role that statistical-physics inspired approaches can play in furthering our understanding of ecology.

Linking ecosystem characteristics to final ecosystem services for public policy.

PubMed

Wong, Christina P; Jiang, Bo; Kinzig, Ann P; Lee, Kai N; Ouyang, Zhiyun

2015-01-01

Governments worldwide are recognising ecosystem services as an approach to address sustainability challenges. Decision-makers need credible and legitimate measurements of ecosystem services to evaluate decisions for trade-offs to make wise choices. Managers lack these measurements because of a data gap linking ecosystem characteristics to final ecosystem services. The dominant method to address the data gap is benefit transfer using ecological data from one location to estimate ecosystem services at other locations with similar land cover. However, benefit transfer is only valid once the data gap is adequately resolved. Disciplinary frames separating ecology from economics and policy have resulted in confusion on concepts and methods preventing progress on the data gap. In this study, we present a 10-step approach to unify concepts, methods and data from the disparate disciplines to offer guidance on overcoming the data gap. We suggest: (1) estimate ecosystem characteristics using biophysical models, (2) identify final ecosystem services using endpoints and (3) connect them using ecological production functions to quantify biophysical trade-offs. The guidance is strategic for public policy because analysts need to be: (1) realistic when setting priorities, (2) attentive to timelines to acquire relevant data, given resources and (3) responsive to the needs of decision-makers. © 2014 The Authors. Ecology Letters published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd and CNRS.

Indigenous Knowledge and Long-term Ecological Change: Detection, Interpretation, and Responses to Changing Ecological Conditions in Pacific Island Communities

PubMed Central

Aswani, Shankar

2010-01-01

When local resource users detect, understand, and respond to environmental change they can more effectively manage environmental resources. This article assesses these abilities among artisanal fishers in Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands. In a comparison of two villages, it documents local resource users’ abilities to monitor long-term ecological change occurring to seagrass meadows near their communities, their understandings of the drivers of change, and their conceptualizations of seagrass ecology. Local observations of ecological change are compared with historical aerial photography and IKONOS satellite images that show 56 years of actual changes in seagrass meadows from 1947 to 2003. Results suggest that villagers detect long-term changes in the spatial cover of rapidly expanding seagrass meadows. However, for seagrass meadows that showed no long-term expansion or contraction in spatial cover over one-third of respondents incorrectly assumed changes had occurred. Examples from a community-based management initiative designed around indigenous ecological knowledge and customary sea tenure governance show how local observations of ecological change shape marine resource use and practices which, in turn, can increase the management adaptability of indigenous or hybrid governance systems. PMID:20336296

African land ecology: opportunities and constraints for agricultural development.

PubMed

Voortman, Roelf L; Sonneveld, Ben G J S; Keyzer, Michiel A

2003-08-01

Compared to other continents, the economic growth performance of Sub-Saharan Africa has been poor over the last four decades. Likewise, progress in agricultural development has been limited and the Green Revolution left Africa almost untouched. The question raised in the literature is whether the poor performance is a question of poor policies or of an unfavorable biophysical environment (policy versus destiny). This paper, with a broad perspective, analyzes adaptation of current land use to environmental conditions in Africa and compares the physical resource base of Africa with Asia. In doing so, we search for unifying principles that can have operational consequences for agricultural development. We argue that some specificities of the natural resource base, namely local homogeneity and spatial diversity of the predominant Basement Complex soils, imply that simple fertilizer strategies may not produce the yield increases obtained elsewhere.

77 FR 71842 - Exemption of Material for Proposed Disposal Procedures at the US Ecology Idaho Resource...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-12-04

... Proposed Disposal Procedures at the US Ecology Idaho Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Subtitle C... water solidified with clay containing low-activity radioactive material, at the US Ecology Idaho (USEI... concluded that the proposed action will not significantly impact the quality of the human environment and...

Threshold concepts: implications for the management of natural resources

USGS Publications Warehouse

Guntenspergen, Glenn R.; Gross, John

2014-01-01

Threshold concepts can have broad relevance in natural resource management. However, the concept of ecological thresholds has not been widely incorporated or adopted in management goals. This largely stems from the uncertainty revolving around threshold levels and the post hoc analyses that have generally been used to identify them. Natural resource managers have a need for new tools and approaches that will help them assess the existence and detection of conditions that demand management actions. Recognition of additional threshold concepts include: utility thresholds (which are based on human values about ecological systems) and decision thresholds (which reflect management objectives and values and include ecological knowledge about a system) as well as ecological thresholds. All of these concepts provide a framework for considering the use of threshold concepts in natural resource decision making.

Monitoring Ecological Resources within U.S. National Parks: Developing "Vital Signs" of Ecological Integrity for the Northeast Temperate Network

Treesearch

Don Faber-Langendoen; Geraldine Tierney; James Gibbs; Greg Shriver; Fred Dieffenbach; Pam Lombard

2006-01-01

The National Park Service (NPS) initiated a new “Vital Signs” program in 1998 to develop comprehensive, long-term monitoring of ecological resources within U.S. national parks. Vital signs (VS) are indicators, and are defined as key elements, processes or features of the environment that can be measured or estimated and that indicate the ecological integrity of an...

Social-ecological resilience and social conflict: institutions and strategic adaptation in Swedish water management.

PubMed

Galaz, Victor

2005-11-01

Dealing with uncertainty and complexity in social-ecological systems is profoundly dependent on the ability of natural resource users to learn and adapt from ecological surprises and crises. This paper analyzes why and how learning processes are affected by strategic behavior among natural resource users and how social conflict is affected by social and ecological uncertainty. The claim is that social conflict among natural resource users seriously inhibits the possibilities of learning and adaptation in social-ecological systems. This is done combining insights from political science, experimental economics, and social-psychology and an analytical case study elaborating social conflict and institutional change in Swedish water management institutions. This paper also discusses the crucial role the institutional context plays in defining the outcome of learning processes in Swedish water management institutions and hence highlights previously poorly elaborated political aspects of learning processes and institutional change in social-ecological systems.

Work, family and life-course fit

PubMed Central

Moen, Phyllis; Kelly, Erin; Huang, Qinlei

2008-01-01

This study moves from “work-family” to a multi-dimensional “life-course fit” construct (employees’ cognitive assessments of resources, resource deficits, and resource demands), using a combined work-family, demands-control and ecology of the life course framing. It examined (1) impacts of job and home ecological systems on fit dimensions, and (2) whether control over work time predicted and mediated life-course fit outcomes. Using cluster analysis of survey data on a sample of 917 white-collar employees from Best Buy headquarters, we identified four job ecologies (corresponding to the job demands-job control model) and five home ecologies (theorizing an analogous home demands-home control model). Job and home ecologies predicted fit dimensions in an additive, not interactive, fashion. Employees’ work-time control predicted every life-course fit dimension and partially mediated effects of job ecologies, organizational tenure, and job category. PMID:19430546

Reply to Efford on ‘Integrating resource selection information with spatial capture-recapture’

USGS Publications Warehouse

Royle, Andy; Chandler, Richard; Sun, Catherine C.; Fuller, Angela K.

2014-01-01

3. A key point of Royle et al. (Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 2013, 4) was that active resource selection induces heterogeneity in encounter probability which, if unaccounted for, should bias estimates of population size or density. The models of Royle et al. (Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 2013, 4) and Efford (Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 2014, 000, 000) merely amount to alternative models of resource selection, and hence varying amounts of heterogeneity in encounter probability.

The role of input-output analysis of energy and ecologic systems. In the early development of ecological economics--a personal perspective.

PubMed

Hannon, Bruce

2010-01-01

A summary is provided of the early history of research on the flow of nonrenewable energy resources through the economy and of the flow of renewable energy resources through a natural ecosystem. The techniques are similar, and many specific applications are provided. A combined economic and ecological technique is also defined. The early history and people of the International Society Ecological Economic are cited.

Depth-related trends in morphological and functional diversity of demersal fish assemblages in the western Mediterranean Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farré, Marc; Tuset, Víctor M.; Cartes, Joan E.; Massutí, Enric; Lombarte, Antoni

2016-09-01

The morphological and functional traits of fishes are key factors defining the ecological and biological habits of species within ecosystems. However, little is known about how the depth gradient affects these factors. In the present study, several demersal fish assemblages from the Balearic Islands (western Mediterranean Sea) along a wide depth range (40-2200 m) were morphologically, functionally and ecologically described. The morphological characterization of communities was performed using geometric morphometric methods, while the functional structures were obtained by the functional categorization of species and the application of principal coordinates analysis (PCoA). The results revealed that morphospaces presented less richness of body forms as depth increases, although they showed a progressive spreading of species toward the periphery, with a proliferation of more extreme body traits, demonstrating lower morphological redundancy. In addition, a trend toward the elongation of body shape was also observed with depth. Moreover, functional diversity increased with bathymetry up to 1400 m, where it sharply decreased downwards. This decrease was parallel to a progressive fall of H‧ (ecological diversity) up to 2200 m. Functional redundancy progressively decreased until the deepest assemblage (more constantly in the deeper levels), which was almost exclusively dominated by benthopelagic wandering species feeding on suprabenthos. Redundancy analysis (RDA) demonstrated that both morphological and functional spaces showed high variation along the bathymetric range. Mantel test indicated that the majority of species presented similar spatial distribution within the morphospace and functional space, although in the functional space the more abundant species were always located at the periphery. These results demonstrate that the assessment of the morpho-functional variation between marine communities helps to understand the processes that affect the structure and functioning of communities, such as resource partitioning, trophic interactions, or interspecific relationships within ecosystem such as coexistence and dominance.

Water resources management in a homogenizing world: Averting the Growth and Underinvestment trajectory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mirchi, Ali; Watkins, David W.; Huckins, Casey J.; Madani, Kaveh; Hjorth, Peder

2014-09-01

Biotic homogenization, a de facto symptom of a global biodiversity crisis, underscores the urgency of reforming water resources management to focus on the health and viability of ecosystems. Global population and economic growth, coupled with inadequate investment in maintenance of ecological systems, threaten to degrade environmental integrity and ecosystem services that support the global socioeconomic system, indicative of a system governed by the Growth and Underinvestment (G&U) archetype. Water resources management is linked to biotic homogenization and degradation of system integrity through alteration of water systems, ecosystem dynamics, and composition of the biota. Consistent with the G&U archetype, water resources planning primarily treats ecological considerations as exogenous constraints rather than integral, dynamic, and responsive parts of the system. It is essential that the ecological considerations be made objectives of water resources development plans to facilitate the analysis of feedbacks and potential trade-offs between socioeconomic gains and ecological losses. We call for expediting a shift to ecosystem-based management of water resources, which requires a better understanding of the dynamics and links between water resources management actions, ecological side-effects, and associated long-term ramifications for sustainability. To address existing knowledge gaps, models that include dynamics and estimated thresholds for regime shifts or ecosystem degradation need to be developed. Policy levers for implementation of ecosystem-based water resources management include shifting away from growth-oriented supply management, better demand management, increased public awareness, and institutional reform that promotes adaptive and transdisciplinary management approaches.

Complex problems and unchallenged solutions: Bringing ecosystem governance to the forefront of the UN sustainable development goals.

PubMed

Vasseur, Liette; Horning, Darwin; Thornbush, Mary; Cohen-Shacham, Emmanuelle; Andrade, Angela; Barrow, Ed; Edwards, Steve R; Wit, Piet; Jones, Mike

2017-11-01

Sustainable development aims at addressing economic, social, and environmental concerns, but the current lack of responsive environmental governance hinders progress. Short-term economic development has led to limited actions, unsustainable resource management, and degraded ecosystems. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) may continue to fall short of achieving significant progress without a better understanding of how ecosystems contribute to achieving sustainability for all people. Ecosystem governance is an approach that integrates the social and ecological components for improved sustainability and includes principles such as adaptive ecosystem co-management, subsidiarity, and telecoupling framework, as well as principles of democracy and accountability. We explain the importance of ecosystem governance in achieving the SDGs, and suggest some ways to ensure that ecosystem services are meaningfully considered. This paper reflects on how integration of these approaches into policies can enhance the current agenda of sustainability.

Bayesian belief networks: applications in ecology and natural resource management.

Treesearch

R.K. McCann; B.G. Marcot; R. Ellis

2006-01-01

We review the use of Bayesian belief networks (BBNs) in natural resource management and ecology. We suggest that BBNs are useful tools for representing expert knowledge of a system, evaluating potential effects of alternative management decisions, and communicating to nonexperts about resource decision issues. BBNs can be used effectively to represent uncertainty in...

Early tetrapod evolution and the progressive integration of Permo-Carboniferous terrestrial ecosystems

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

Beerbower, J.R.; Olson, E.C.; Hotton, N. III

1992-01-01

Variation among Permo-Carboniferous tetrapod assemblages demonstrates major transformations in pathways and rates of energy and nutrient transfer, in integration of terrestrial ecosystems and in predominant ecologic modes. Early Carboniferous pathways were through plant detritus to aquatic and terrestrial detritivores and thence to arthropod and vertebrate meso-and macro-predators. Transfer rates (and efficiency) were low as was ecosystem integration; the principal ecologic mode was conservation. Late Carboniferous and Early Permian assemblages demonstrate an expansion in herbivory, primarily in utilization of low-fiber plant tissue by insects. But transfer rates, efficiency and integration were still limited because the larger portion of plant biomass, high-fibermore » tissues, still went into detrital pathways; high-fiber'' herbivores, i.e., tetrapods, were neither abundant or diverse, reflecting limited resources, intense predation and limited capabilities for processing fiber-rich food. The abundance and diversity of tetrapod herbivores in upper Permian assemblages suggests a considerable transfer of energy from high-fiber tissues through these animals to tetrapod predators and thus higher transfer rates and efficiencies. It also brought a shift in ecological mode toward acquisition and regulation and tightened ecosystem integration.« less

Development of an ecological classification system for the Cooper Creek watershed of the Chattahoochee National Forest: a first approximation

Treesearch

W. Henry McNab; Ronald B. Stephens; Erika M. Mavity; Joanne E. Baggs; James M. Wentworth; Richard D. Rightmyer; Alex J. Jaume; Brian D. Jackson; Michael P. Joyce

2015-01-01

The 2004 management plan for the Chattahoochee National Forest states that many future resource objectives and goals have an ecological basis. Assessment of resource needs in the Cooper Creek watershed area of the southern Appalachian Mountains of north Georgia were identified with awareness of ecological constraints and suitability. An interdisciplinary team of...

Template for Conceptual Model Construction: Model Components and Application of the Template

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-09-01

stressors, focused through EECs, result in endpoints (Lubinski and Barko 2003). Endpoints are quantifiable, ecologically significant, and important to...Monitoring Plan (Thomas et al. 2001) Lake Okeechobee (Havens 1999) EPA Ecological Risk Assessment on Terrestrial Ecosystem (Suter 1996) Grassland...endpoints (Havens 1999) are examples of Hydrologic Resources: Water Quality, and Terrestrial Resources: Biota. The EPA Ecological Risk Assessment (Suter

Land Ecological Security Evaluation of Underground Iron Mine Based on PSR Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiao, Xiao; Chen, Yong; Ruan, Jinghua; Hong, Qiang; Gan, Yong

2018-01-01

Iron ore mine provides an important strategic resource to the national economy while it also causes many serious ecological problems to the environment. The study summed up the characteristics of ecological environment problems of underground iron mine. Considering the mining process of underground iron mine, we analysis connections between mining production, resource, environment and economical background. The paper proposed a land ecological security evaluation system and method of underground iron mine based on Pressure-State-Response model. Our application in Chengchao iron mine proves its efficiency and promising guide on land ecological security evaluation.

Determinants of Malaria Program Expenditures during Elimination: Case Study Evidence from Select Provinces in the Philippines

PubMed Central

Liu, Jenny X.; Newby, Gretchen; Brackery, Aprielle; Smith Gueye, Cara; Candari, Christine J.; Escubil, Luz R.; Vestergaard, Lasse S.; Baquilod, Mario

2013-01-01

...Even though eliminating malaria from the endemic margins is a part of the Global Malaria Action Plan, little guidance exists on what resources are needed to transition from controlling malaria to eliminating it. Using Philippines as an example, this study aimed to (1) estimate the financial resources used by sub-national malaria programs in different phases during elimination and (2) understand how different environmental and organizational factors may influence expenditure levels and spending proportions. The Philippines provides an opportunity to study variations in sub-national programs because its epidemiological and ecological diversity, devolved health system, and progressive elimination strategy all allow greater flexibility for lower-level governments to direct activities, but also create challenges for coordination and resource mobilization. Through key informant interviews and archival record retrieval in four selected provinces chosen based on eco-epidemiological variation, expenditures associated with provincial malaria programs were collected for selected years (mid-1990s to 2010). Results show that expenditures per person at risk per year decrease as programs progress from a state of controlled low-endemic malaria to elimination to prevention of reintroduction regardless of whether elimination was deliberately planned. However, wide variation across provinces were found: expenditures were generally higher if mainly financed with donor grants, but were moderated by the level of economic development, the level of malaria transmission and receptivity, and the capacity of program staff. Across all provinces, strong leadership appears to be a necessary condition for maintaining progress and is vital in controlling outbreaks. While sampled provinces and years may not be representative of other sub-national malaria programs, these findings suggest that the marginal yearly cost declines with each phase during elimination. PMID:24086279

Determinants of malaria program expenditures during elimination: case study evidence from select provinces in the Philippines.

PubMed

Liu, Jenny X; Newby, Gretchen; Brackery, Aprielle; Smith Gueye, Cara; Candari, Christine J; Escubil, Luz R; Vestergaard, Lasse S; Baquilod, Mario

2013-01-01

...Even though eliminating malaria from the endemic margins is a part of the Global Malaria Action Plan, little guidance exists on what resources are needed to transition from controlling malaria to eliminating it. Using Philippines as an example, this study aimed to (1) estimate the financial resources used by sub-national malaria programs in different phases during elimination and (2) understand how different environmental and organizational factors may influence expenditure levels and spending proportions. The Philippines provides an opportunity to study variations in sub-national programs because its epidemiological and ecological diversity, devolved health system, and progressive elimination strategy all allow greater flexibility for lower-level governments to direct activities, but also create challenges for coordination and resource mobilization. Through key informant interviews and archival record retrieval in four selected provinces chosen based on eco-epidemiological variation, expenditures associated with provincial malaria programs were collected for selected years (mid-1990s to 2010). Results show that expenditures per person at risk per year decrease as programs progress from a state of controlled low-endemic malaria to elimination to prevention of reintroduction regardless of whether elimination was deliberately planned. However, wide variation across provinces were found: expenditures were generally higher if mainly financed with donor grants, but were moderated by the level of economic development, the level of malaria transmission and receptivity, and the capacity of program staff. Across all provinces, strong leadership appears to be a necessary condition for maintaining progress and is vital in controlling outbreaks. While sampled provinces and years may not be representative of other sub-national malaria programs, these findings suggest that the marginal yearly cost declines with each phase during elimination.

Developing a Multi-Year Learning Progression for Carbon Cycling in Socio-Ecological Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mohan, Lindsey; Chen, Jing; Anderson, Charles W.

2009-01-01

This study reports on our steps toward achieving a conceptually coherent and empirically validated learning progression for carbon cycling in socio-ecological systems. It describes an iterative process of designing and analyzing assessment and interview data from students in upper elementary through high school. The product of our development…

Patterns of Reasoning about Ecological Systemic Reasoning for Early Elementary Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hokayem, H.

2016-01-01

Systems and system models are recognized as a crosscutting concept in the newly released framework for K-12 science education (NRC [National Research Council], 2012). In previous work, I developed a learning progression for systemic reasoning in ecology at the elementary level. The learning progression captured five levels of students' reasoning…

Meet EPA Natural Resource Economist Marisa Mazzotta, Ph.D.

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Marisa Mazzotta, Ph.D. currently works as an Economist at EPA's Atlantic Ecology Division. Her research focuses on the public's valuation and prioritization of natural resources, and the relationship between ecological changes and economic benefits.

Dendroclimatology of the Slave River Delta, Northwest Territories, Canada

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jarvis, S.; Buhay, W. M.; Blair, D.; Tardif, J.; Bailey, D.

2004-05-01

It is well documented that changing hydrological conditions impact delta ecosystems. Such changes can also affect local inhabitants who have historical connections to the area and its resources. During the summer of 2003 a multifaceted paleo-environmental project was initiated to reconstruct the frequencies of floods and droughts in the Slave River Delta (SRD), Northwest Territories, Canada. The project goal is to forecast future hydrological and ecological conditions in the SRD in light of anticipated climate change and increasing demand on water resources. With the intent of expanding the climate history of the SRD, this particular aspect of the project will employ white spruce tree-ring chronologies constructed from six sites visited within the delta. Work is currently in progress to build a master chronology estimated to span over 300 years. In addition, a climate model for the SRD is also being developed and will be highlighted.

Land Resources and Pollution. Environmental Studies. 4 Color Transparencies, Reproducibles & Teaching Guide. Grade 3, 4, 5.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ortleb, Edward P.; And Others

The world is faced with a variety of environmental problems. No country has escaped pollution and resource depletion. Basic ecological principles are often ignored and sometimes this contributes to ecological disasters. This volume is designed to provide basic information about the quality of the earth's land resources. The visual aids,…

Exploration of sustainable development by applying green economy indicators.

PubMed

Chen, Yungkun; Chen, Chia-Yon; Hsieh, Tsuifang

2011-11-01

Following the global trend of sustainable development, development of green economy is the best way of slowing the negative ecological and environmental impact. This research establishes the Taiwan's green economic indicators based on the ecological footprint and energy analysis. The results are as follows: Taiwan's ecological footprint in 2008 intensity index was at 4.364; ecological overshoot index was at 3.364, showing that Taiwan's ecological system is in overload state. Moreover, this study utilizes energy analysis model to study the sustainable development of Taiwan. Findings showed that total energy use in 2008 was 3.14 × 10(23) sej (solar energy joule, sej), energy of renewable resources was 1.30 × 10(22) sej, energy of nonrenewable resources was 2.26 × 10(23) sej, energy of products from renewable resources was 1.30 × 10(22)sej, energy of currency flow was 8.02 × 10(22) sej and energy of wastes flow was 6.55 × 10(22) sej. Taiwan's energy per capita and the utilization rate of energy is lower while the environmental loading rate is significantly higher comparing to some other countries. The foregoing findings indicate that Taiwan currently belongs to an economic development pattern based on high resource consumption. The economic development is mainly established on the exploitation and utilization of nonrenewable resources. Therefore, Taiwan should change the development pattern, regulate the industrial structure, promote the utilization rate of resources, develop green pollution-free products, and enhance the sustainable development of ecological economic system.

Agro-ecological analysis for the EU water framework directive: an applied case study for the river contract of the Seveso basin (Italy).

PubMed

Bocchi, Stefano; La Rosa, Daniele; Pileri, Paolo

2012-10-01

The innovative approach to the protection and management of water resources at the basin scale introduced by the European Union water framework directive (WFD) requires new scientific tools. WFD implementation also requires the participation of many stakeholders (administrators, farmers and citizens) with the aim of improving the quality of river waters and basin ecosystems through cooperative planning. This approach encompasses different issues, such as agro-ecology, land use planning and water management. This paper presents the results of a methodology suggested for implementing the WFD in the case of the Seveso river contract in Italy, one of the recent WFD applications. The Seveso basin in the Lombardy region has been one of the most rapidly urbanizing areas in Italy over the last 50 years. First, land use changes in the last 50 years are assessed with the use of historical aerial photos. Then, elements of an ecological network along the river corridor are outlined, and different scenarios for enhancing existing ecological connections are assessed using indicators from graph theory. These scenarios were discussed in technical workshops with involved stakeholders of the river contract. The results show a damaged rural landscape, where urbanization processes have decimated the system of linear green features (hedges/rows). Progressive reconnections of some of the identified network nodes may significantly increase the connectivity and circuitry of the study area.

[Heavy metal pollution ecology of macro-fungi: research advances and expectation].

PubMed

Zhou, Qi-xing; An, Xin-long; Wei, Shu-he

2008-08-01

Macro-fungi are the main component of biosphere and one of the ecological resources, and play very important roles in matter cycling and in maintaining ecological balances. This paper summarized and reviewed the research advances in the eco-toxicological effects of heavy metals on macro-fungi, the bioaccumulation function of macro-fungi on heavy metals, the ecological adaptation mechanisms of macro-fungi to heavy metal pollution, the role of macro-fungi as a bio-indicator of heavy metal pollution, and the potential of macro-fungi in the ecological remediation of contaminated environment. To strengthen the researches on the heavy metal pollution ecology of macro-fungi would be of practical significance in the reasonable utilization of macro-fungi resources and in the ecological remediation of contaminated environment.

MOLECULAR GENETIC TOOLS FOR ASSESSING THE STATUS AND VULNERABILITY OF AQUATIC RESOURCES

EPA Science Inventory

Development of ecological indicators that efficiently capture the present condition and project future vulnerabilities of biological resources is critical to sound environmental management. For this reason, the ORD's Ecological Research Program is developing genetic methodologies...

Evaluation of resources and environment carrying capacity and socio-economic pressure in typical ecological regions, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qiusen, Huang; Xinyi, Xu

2017-04-01

Since the reform and opening up, the socio-economic pressures have led to increasingly tight resource constraints and serious environmental pollution problems in China, especially for typical ecological regions. The ecological system is under a severe situation and resource and environmental issues have become the bottleneck of economic development. Taking the Chen Barag Banner which has been considered as typical ecological regions as an example, the evaluation indexes system of resources and environment carrying capacity was divided into three subsystems: natural driving force, socio-economic pressure and ecological health. On the basis of the indexes system and related data of Chen Barag Banner in 2014, the evaluation model of resources and environment carrying capacity based on spring model were proposed to analysis the state of resources and environment carrying, and an assessment of influence of socio-economic pressure on the resources and environment system has been conducted by using the discretization method of socio-economic data. The results showed that:(1) The resources and environment system of Baorixile Town, Huhenuoer Town and Bayankuren Town were overloaded among the ten towns, the values of Resources and Environment Carrying Capacity(RECC) / Resources and Environment Carrying State(RECS) were 9.86, 1.37 and 1.22, respectively;(2) The natural driving force index of Xiwuzhuer Town, Hadatu state-owned farm and Bayanhada Town were 0.40, 0.42 and 0.43, respectively, which were lower than others and indicated that the natural conditions in these areas were better than others;(3) The situation of ecological environment Ewenke Town, Hadatu state-owned farm and Tenihe state-owned farm were the best due to the result that the ecological health index of these three towns were 0.21, 0.22 and 0.26, respectively, which were lower than others;(4) The influence of socio-economic pressure on the system of resources and environment in Baorixile Town, Hadatu state-owned farm and Tenihe state-owned farm were the heaviest, the values of social and economic pressure index were 0.61, 0.32 and 0.30 respectively;(5) The discretization result of socio-economic pressure in the scale of 10km*10km space unit was helpful to understand the trend of socio-economic pressure within the township, which couldn't be learned from the result based on the scale of the township;(6) The main factors that affected the environmental carrying capacity of Chen Barag Banner were soil moisture content and per capita water resources;(7) Consumption of water resources and land resources, environmental pollution resulted from the production of agriculture and animal husbandry were the main causes of socio-economic pressures.

Character convergence under competition for nutritionally essential resources.

PubMed

Fox, Jeremy W; Vasseur, David A

2008-11-01

Resource competition is thought to drive divergence in resource use traits (character displacement) by generating selection favoring individuals able to use resources unavailable to others. However, this picture assumes nutritionally substitutable resources (e.g., different prey species). When species compete for nutritionally essential resources (e.g., different nutrients), theory predicts that selection drives character convergence. We used models of two species competing for two essential resources to address several issues not considered by existing theory. The models incorporated either slow evolutionary change in resource use traits or fast physiological or behavioral change. We report four major results. First, competition always generates character convergence, but differences in resource requirements prevent competitors from evolving identical resource use traits. Second, character convergence promotes coexistence. Competing species always attain resource use traits that allow coexistence, and adaptive trait change stabilizes the ecological equilibrium. In contrast, adaptation in allopatry never preadapts species to coexist in sympatry. Third, feedbacks between ecological dynamics and trait dynamics lead to surprising dynamical trajectories such as transient divergence in resource use traits followed by subsequent convergence. Fourth, under sufficiently slow trait change, ecological dynamics often drive one of the competitors to near extinction, which would prevent realization of long-term character convergence in practice.

Multiplex social ecological network analysis reveals how social changes affect community robustness more than resource depletion.

PubMed

Baggio, Jacopo A; BurnSilver, Shauna B; Arenas, Alex; Magdanz, James S; Kofinas, Gary P; De Domenico, Manlio

2016-11-29

Network analysis provides a powerful tool to analyze complex influences of social and ecological structures on community and household dynamics. Most network studies of social-ecological systems use simple, undirected, unweighted networks. We analyze multiplex, directed, and weighted networks of subsistence food flows collected in three small indigenous communities in Arctic Alaska potentially facing substantial economic and ecological changes. Our analysis of plausible future scenarios suggests that changes to social relations and key households have greater effects on community robustness than changes to specific wild food resources.

Learning Progression of Ecological System Reasoning for Lower Elementary (G1-4) Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hokayem, Hayat Al

2012-01-01

In this study, I utilized a learning progression framework to investigate lower elementary students (G1-4) systemic reasoning in ecology and I related students reasoning to their sources of knowledge. I used semi-structured interviews with 44 students from first through fourth grade, four teachers, and eight parents. The results revealed that a…

ECOSYSTEM SERVICES IN THE MID-ATLANTIC UNITED STATES

EPA Science Inventory

Ecological resources have both extrinsic and intrinsic values. These range from the direct economic values

derived from resource harvests, to inherently ecological characteristics that are necessary for ecosystem

functioning, and finally to societal value that human...

Assessing and Managing Natural Resource Damages: Continuing Challenges and Opportunities.

PubMed

Barnthouse, Lawrence W; Stahl, Ralph G

2017-05-01

In a 2002 paper, we discussed the technical challenges associated with quantifying natural resource injuries, service losses and damages, and suggested some actions that might help to overcome them. An important suggestion was to consider using some of the approaches in ecological risk assessment to help evaluate potential natural resource injuries, and ultimately in some cases to help translate those injuries into natural resource service loss. This was based on the observation that ecological risk assessment and natural resource damage assessments use much of the same types of data, but at that time the experience base with ecological risk assessment was greater than for natural resource damage assessments. We also discussed some of the issues in applying the then current Department of Interior natural resource damage assessments regulations. Since our 2002 publication the scientific literature, relevant regulations, the global context and more have changed. In the current paper we focus on the technical and regulatory changes in natural resource damage assessments practice since 2002, and use recent reports and publications to illustrate those changes and identify new directions in natural resource damage assessments.

Assessing and Managing Natural Resource Damages: Continuing Challenges and Opportunities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barnthouse, Lawrence W.; Stahl, Ralph G.

2017-05-01

In a 2002 paper, we discussed the technical challenges associated with quantifying natural resource injuries, service losses and damages, and suggested some actions that might help to overcome them. An important suggestion was to consider using some of the approaches in ecological risk assessment to help evaluate potential natural resource injuries, and ultimately in some cases to help translate those injuries into natural resource service loss. This was based on the observation that ecological risk assessment and natural resource damage assessments use much of the same types of data, but at that time the experience base with ecological risk assessment was greater than for natural resource damage assessments. We also discussed some of the issues in applying the then current Department of Interior natural resource damage assessments regulations. Since our 2002 publication the scientific literature, relevant regulations, the global context and more have changed. In the current paper we focus on the technical and regulatory changes in natural resource damage assessments practice since 2002, and use recent reports and publications to illustrate those changes and identify new directions in natural resource damage assessments.

COMADRE: a global data base of animal demography.

PubMed

Salguero-Gómez, Roberto; Jones, Owen R; Archer, C Ruth; Bein, Christoph; de Buhr, Hendrik; Farack, Claudia; Gottschalk, Fränce; Hartmann, Alexander; Henning, Anne; Hoppe, Gabriel; Römer, Gesa; Ruoff, Tara; Sommer, Veronika; Wille, Julia; Voigt, Jakob; Zeh, Stefan; Vieregg, Dirk; Buckley, Yvonne M; Che-Castaldo, Judy; Hodgson, David; Scheuerlein, Alexander; Caswell, Hal; Vaupel, James W

2016-03-01

The open-data scientific philosophy is being widely adopted and proving to promote considerable progress in ecology and evolution. Open-data global data bases now exist on animal migration, species distribution, conservation status, etc. However, a gap exists for data on population dynamics spanning the rich diversity of the animal kingdom world-wide. This information is fundamental to our understanding of the conditions that have shaped variation in animal life histories and their relationships with the environment, as well as the determinants of invasion and extinction. Matrix population models (MPMs) are among the most widely used demographic tools by animal ecologists. MPMs project population dynamics based on the reproduction, survival and development of individuals in a population over their life cycle. The outputs from MPMs have direct biological interpretations, facilitating comparisons among animal species as different as Caenorhabditis elegans, Loxodonta africana and Homo sapiens. Thousands of animal demographic records exist in the form of MPMs, but they are dispersed throughout the literature, rendering comparative analyses difficult. Here, we introduce the COMADRE Animal Matrix Database, an open-data online repository, which in its version 1.0.0 contains data on 345 species world-wide, from 402 studies with a total of 1625 population projection matrices. COMADRE also contains ancillary information (e.g. ecoregion, taxonomy, biogeography, etc.) that facilitates interpretation of the numerous demographic metrics that can be derived from its MPMs. We provide R code to some of these examples. We introduce the COMADRE Animal Matrix Database, a resource for animal demography. Its open-data nature, together with its ancillary information, will facilitate comparative analysis, as will the growing availability of databases focusing on other aspects of the rich animal diversity, and tools to query and combine them. Through future frequent updates of COMADRE, and its integration with other online resources, we encourage animal ecologists to tackle global ecological and evolutionary questions with unprecedented sample size. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.

Environmental management zoning for coal mining in mainland China based on ecological and resources conditions.

PubMed

Geng, Haiqing; Chen, Fan; Wang, Zhiyuan; Liu, Jie; Xu, Weihua

2017-05-01

The purpose of this research is to establish an environmental management zoning for coal mining industry which is served as a basis for making environmental management policies. Based on the specific impacts of coal mining and regional characteristics of environment and resources, the ecological impact, water resources impact, and arable land impact are chose as the zoning indexes to construct the index system. The ecological sensitivity is graded into three levels of low, medium, and high according to analytical hierarchy processes and gray fixed weight clustering analysis, and the water resources sensitivity is divided into five levels of lower, low, medium, high, and higher according to the weighted sum of sub-indexes, while only the arable land sensitive zone was extracted on the basis of the ratio of arable land to the county or city. By combining the ecological sensitivity zoning and the water resources sensitive zoning and then overlapping the arable-sensitive areas, the mainland China is classified into six types of environmental management zones for coal mining except to the forbidden exploitation areas.

Compilation of 1989 annual reports of the Navy ELF Communications System Ecological Monitoring Program. Volume 2. tabs C-F. Annual progress report, Jan-Dec 89

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

Not Available

1990-08-01

This is the eighth compilation of annual reports for the Navy's ELF Communications Systems Ecological Monitoring Program. The reports document the progress of eight studies performed during 1989 near the Naval Radio Transmitting Facility -- Republic, Michigan. The purpose of the monitoring is to determine whether electromagnetic fields produced by the ELF Communications System will affect resident biota or their ecological relationships. Soil Amoeba: Arthropoda and Earthworms: Pollinating Insects: Small Mammals and Nesting Birds.

Review and challenges of policies of environmental protection and sustainable development in China.

PubMed

Zhang, Kun-Min; Wen, Zong-Guo

2008-09-01

China is confronted with the dual task of developing its national economy and protecting its ecological environment. Since the 1980s, China's policies on environmental protection and sustainable development have experienced five changes: (1) progression from the adoption of environmental protection as a basic state policy to the adoption of sustainable development strategy; (2) changing focus from pollution control to ecological conservation equally; (3) shifting from end-of-pipe treatment to source control; (4) moving from point source treatment to regional environmental governance; and (5) a turn away from administrative management-based approaches and towards a legal means and economic instruments-based approach. Since 1992, China has set down sustainable development as a basic national strategy. However, environmental pollution and ecological degradation in China have continued to be serious problems and have inflicted great damage on the economy and quality of life. The beginning of the 21st century is a critical juncture for China's efforts towards sustaining rapid economic development, intensifying environmental protection efforts, and curbing ecological degradation. As the largest developing country, China's policies on environmental protection and sustainable development will be of primary importance not only for China, but also the world. Realizing a completely well-off society by the year 2020 is seen as a crucial task by the Chinese government and an important goal for China's economic development in the new century, however, attaining it would require a four-fold increase over China's year 2000 GDP. Therefore, speeding up economic development is a major mission during the next two decades and doing so will bring great challenges in controlling depletion of natural resources and environmental pollution. By taking a critical look at the development of Chinese environmental policy, we try to determine how best to coordinate the relationship between the environment and the economy in order to improve quality of life and the sustainability of China's resources and environment. Examples of important measures include: adjustment of economic structure, reform of energy policy, development of environmental industry, pollution prevention and ecological conservation, capacity building, and international cooperation and public participation.

Isotopic niches support the resource breadth hypothesis.

PubMed

Rader, Jonathan A; Newsome, Seth D; Sabat, Pablo; Chesser, R Terry; Dillon, Michael E; Martínez Del Rio, Carlos

2017-03-01

Because a broad spectrum of resource use allows species to persist in a wide range of habitat types, and thus permits them to occupy large geographical areas, and because broadly distributed species have access to more diverse resource bases, the resource breadth hypothesis posits that the diversity of resources used by organisms should be positively related with the extent of their geographic ranges. We investigated isotopic niche width in a small radiation of South American birds in the genus Cinclodes. We analysed feathers of 12 species of Cinclodes to test the isotopic version of the resource breadth hypothesis and to examine the correlation between isotopic niche breadth and morphology. We found a positive correlation between the widths of hydrogen and oxygen isotopic niches (which estimate breadth of elevational range) and widths of the carbon and nitrogen isotopic niches (which estimates the diversity of resources consumed, and hence of habitats used). We also found a positive correlation between broad isotopic niches and wing morphology. Our study not only supports the resource breadth hypothesis but it also highlights the usefulness of stable isotope analyses as tools in the exploration of ecological niches. It is an example of a macroecological application of stable isotopes. It also illustrates the importance of scientific collections in ecological studies. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2016 British Ecological Society.

7 CFR 650.3 - Policy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... AGRICULTURE SUPPORT ACTIVITIES COMPLIANCE WITH NEPA Procedures for NRCS-Assisted Programs § 650.3 Policy. (a... ecological, cultural, natural, physical, social, and economic resources by striving for a balance between use... ecological, cultural, natural, physical, social, and economic resources by striving for a balance between...

[Dynamic changes of ecological footprint and ecological capacity in Fujian Province].

PubMed

Weng, Boqi; Wang, Yixiang; Huang, Yibin; Ying, Zhaoyang; Huang, Qinlou

2006-11-01

The analysis on the dynamic changes of ecological footprint and ecological capacity in Fujian Province showed that in 1999-2003, the ecological footprint per capita in the Province increased from 1.428 hm2 to 1.658 hm2, while the ecological capacity per capita decreased from 0.683 hm2 to 0.607 hm2, with an increased ecological deficit year after year. The contradiction between the ecological footprint and ecological capacity pricked up gradually, and the ecological environment was at risk. There existed a severe imbalance in the supply and demand of ecological footprint per capita. The main body of the demands was grassland and fossil fuel, accouting for 55.74% - 63.43% of the total, while their supply only occupied 0.77% - 0.82% and next to nothing of the ecological capacity per capita, respectively. As a whole, the ecological footprint per ten thousand yuan GDP declined in the five years, indicating that the resources use efficiency in the Province was improved gradually. Based on the analysis of the present situation of the economic development and resources distribution in the Province, the strategies on reducing ecological deficit were put forward.

Similarities and Differences in Barriers and Opportunities Affecting Climate Change Adaptation Action in Four North American Landscapes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lonsdale, Whitney R.; Kretser, Heidi E.; Chetkiewicz, Cheryl-Lesley B.; Cross, Molly S.

2017-12-01

Climate change presents a complex set of challenges for natural resource managers across North America. Despite recognition that climate change poses serious threats to species, ecosystems, and human communities, implementation of adaptation measures is not yet happening on a broad scale. Among different regions, a range of climate change trajectories, varying political contexts, and diverse social and ecological systems generate a myriad of factors that can affect progress on climate change adaptation implementation. In order to understand the general versus site-specific nature of barriers and opportunities influencing implementation, we surveyed and interviewed practitioners, decision-makers, and scientists involved in natural resource management in four different North American regions, northern Ontario (Canada), the Adirondack State Park (US), Arctic Alaska (US), and the Transboundary Rocky Mountains (US and Canada). Common barriers among regions related to a lack of political support and financial resources, as well as challenges related to translating complex and interacting effects of climate change into management actions. Opportunities shared among regions related to collaboration, funding, and the presence of strong leadership. These commonalities indicate the importance of cross-site learning about ways to leverage opportunities and address adaptation barriers; however, regional variations also suggest that adaptation efforts will need to be tailored to fit specific ecological, political, social and economic contexts. Comparative findings on the similarities and differences in barriers and opportunities, as well as rankings of barriers and opportunities by region, offers important contextual insights into how to further refine efforts to advance adaptation actions in those regions.

Effects of land use change on soil carbon storage and water consumption in an oasis-desert ecotone.

PubMed

Lü, Yihe; Ma, Zhimin; Zhao, Zhijiang; Sun, Feixiang; Fu, Bojie

2014-06-01

Land use and ecosystem services need to be assessed simultaneously to better understand the relevant factors in sustainable land management. This paper analyzed land use changes in the middle reach of the arid Heihe River Basin in northwest China over the last two decades and their impacts on water resources and soil organic carbon (SOC) storage. The results indicated that from 1986 to 2007: (1) cropland and human settlements expanded by 45.0 and 17.6%, respectively, at the expense of 70.1, 35.7, and 4.1% shrinkage on woodland, grassland, and semi-shrubby desert; (2) irrigation water use was dominant and increased (with fluctuations) at an average rate of 8.2%, while basic human water consumption increased monotonically over a longer period from 1981 to 2011 at a rate of 58%; and (3) cropland expansion or continuous cultivation led to a significant reduction of SOC, while the land use transition from grassland to semi-shrubby desert and the progressive succession of natural ecosystems such as semi-shrubby desert and grassland, in contrast, can bring about significant carbon sequestration benefits. The increased water consumption and decreased SOC pool associated with some observed land use changes may induce and aggravate potential ecological risks for both local and downstream ecosystems, including water resource shortages, soil quality declines, and degeneration of natural vegetation. Therefore, it is necessary to balance socioeconomic wellbeing and ecosystem services in land use planning and management for the sustainability of socio-ecological systems across spatiotemporal scales, especially in resource-poor arid environments.

Similarities and Differences in Barriers and Opportunities Affecting Climate Change Adaptation Action in Four North American Landscapes.

PubMed

Lonsdale, Whitney R; Kretser, Heidi E; Chetkiewicz, Cheryl-Lesley B; Cross, Molly S

2017-12-01

Climate change presents a complex set of challenges for natural resource managers across North America. Despite recognition that climate change poses serious threats to species, ecosystems, and human communities, implementation of adaptation measures is not yet happening on a broad scale. Among different regions, a range of climate change trajectories, varying political contexts, and diverse social and ecological systems generate a myriad of factors that can affect progress on climate change adaptation implementation. In order to understand the general versus site-specific nature of barriers and opportunities influencing implementation, we surveyed and interviewed practitioners, decision-makers, and scientists involved in natural resource management in four different North American regions, northern Ontario (Canada), the Adirondack State Park (US), Arctic Alaska (US), and the Transboundary Rocky Mountains (US and Canada). Common barriers among regions related to a lack of political support and financial resources, as well as challenges related to translating complex and interacting effects of climate change into management actions. Opportunities shared among regions related to collaboration, funding, and the presence of strong leadership. These commonalities indicate the importance of cross-site learning about ways to leverage opportunities and address adaptation barriers; however, regional variations also suggest that adaptation efforts will need to be tailored to fit specific ecological, political, social and economic contexts. Comparative findings on the similarities and differences in barriers and opportunities, as well as rankings of barriers and opportunities by region, offers important contextual insights into how to further refine efforts to advance adaptation actions in those regions.

Data on distribution and abundance: Monitoring for research and management [Chapter 6

Treesearch

Samuel A. Cushman; Kevin S. McKelvey

2010-01-01

In the first chapter of this book we identified the interdependence of method, data and theory as an important influence on the progress of science. The first several chapters focused mostly on progress in theory, in the areas of integrating spatial and temporal complexity into ecological analysis, the emergence of landscape ecology and its transformation into a multi-...

Professional Training for TRADOC Environmental and Natural Resource Professionals. Volume 2. Source Listings

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-05-01

Plant Biology); Carol Augspurger 376 INSTITUTION; COOPERATOR University of Illinois, Urbana ( Ecology , Ethology & Evolution ...43 Ph.D. 33 33 33 1 STRENGTHS AND SPECIALTIES Subject Matter Strengths: Biogeography, community ecology , vertebrate ecology , plant /insect interactions ... ecology , population ecology of small mammals, avian ecology , plant /animal interactions . Formal Teaching/Research Arrangements With Other

Body size mediated coexistence in swans.

PubMed

Engelhardt, Katharina A M; Ritchie, Mark E; Powell, James A

2014-01-01

Differences in body sizes may create a trade-off between foraging efficiency (foraging gains/costs) and access to resources. Such a trade-off provides a potential mechanism for ecologically similar species to coexist on one resource. We explored this hypothesis for tundra (Cygnus columbianus) and trumpeter swans (Cygnus buccinator), a federally protected species, feeding solely on sago pondweed (Stuckenia pectinata) tubers during fall staging and wintering in northern Utah. Foraging efficiency was higher for tundra swans because this species experienced lower foraging and metabolic costs relative to foraging gains; however, trumpeter swans (a) had longer necks and therefore had access to exclusive resources buried deep in wetland sediments and (b) were more aggressive and could therefore displace tundra swans from lucrative foraging locations. We conclude that body size differentiation is an important feature of coexistence among ecologically similar species feeding on one resource. In situations where resources are limiting and competition for resources is strong, conservation managers will need to consider the trade-off between foraging efficiency and access to resources to ensure ecologically similar species can coexist on a shared resource.

Body Size Mediated Coexistence in Swans

PubMed Central

Engelhardt, Katharina A. M.; Ritchie, Mark E.; Powell, James A.

2014-01-01

Differences in body sizes may create a trade-off between foraging efficiency (foraging gains/costs) and access to resources. Such a trade-off provides a potential mechanism for ecologically similar species to coexist on one resource. We explored this hypothesis for tundra (Cygnus columbianus) and trumpeter swans (Cygnus buccinator), a federally protected species, feeding solely on sago pondweed (Stuckenia pectinata) tubers during fall staging and wintering in northern Utah. Foraging efficiency was higher for tundra swans because this species experienced lower foraging and metabolic costs relative to foraging gains; however, trumpeter swans (a) had longer necks and therefore had access to exclusive resources buried deep in wetland sediments and (b) were more aggressive and could therefore displace tundra swans from lucrative foraging locations. We conclude that body size differentiation is an important feature of coexistence among ecologically similar species feeding on one resource. In situations where resources are limiting and competition for resources is strong, conservation managers will need to consider the trade-off between foraging efficiency and access to resources to ensure ecologically similar species can coexist on a shared resource. PMID:24672347

Can law foster social-ecological resilience?

USGS Publications Warehouse

Garmestani, Ahjond S.; Allen, Craig R.; Benson, Melinda H.

2013-01-01

Law plays an essential role in shaping natural resource and environmental policy, but unfortunately, many environmental laws were developed around the prevailing scientific understanding that there was a “balance of nature” that could be managed and sustained. This view assumes that natural resource managers have the capacity to predict the behavior of ecological systems, know what its important functional components are, and successfully predict the outcome of management interventions. This paper takes on this problem by summarizing and synthesizing the contributions to this Special Feature (Law and Social-Ecological Resilience, Part I: Contributions from Resilience 2011), focusing on the interaction of law and social-ecological resilience, and then offering recommendations for the integration of law and social-ecological resilience.

TSK 6498 - DEVELOPMENT OF MOLECULAR INDICATORS OF EXPOSURE TO ENDOCRINE DISRUPTING COMPOUNDS, PESTICIDES & OTHER XENOBIOTIC AGENTS.

EPA Science Inventory

Accurate and precise characterization of exposure of aquatic ecological resources to chemical stressors is required for ecological risk assessment. Within this assessment, the study of the vulnerability of these resources requires comparative exposure assessments across watershe...

Assessing trade-offs in large marine protected areas.

PubMed

Davies, Tammy E; Epstein, Graham; Aguilera, Stacy E; Brooks, Cassandra M; Cox, Michael; Evans, Louisa S; Maxwell, Sara M; Nenadovic, Mateja; Ban, Natalie C

2018-01-01

Large marine protected areas (LMPAs) are increasingly being established and have a high profile in marine conservation. LMPAs are expected to achieve multiple objectives, and because of their size are postulated to avoid trade-offs that are common in smaller MPAs. However, evaluations across multiple outcomes are lacking. We used a systematic approach to code several social and ecological outcomes of 12 LMPAs. We found evidence of three types of trade-offs: trade-offs between different ecological resources (supply trade-offs); trade-offs between ecological resource conditions and the well-being of resource users (supply-demand trade-offs); and trade-offs between the well-being outcomes of different resource users (demand trade-offs). We also found several divergent outcomes that were attributed to influences beyond the scope of the LMPA. We suggest that despite their size, trade-offs can develop in LMPAs and should be considered in planning and design. LMPAs may improve their performance across multiple social and ecological objectives if integrated with larger-scale conservation efforts.

Research on the water resources regulation ability model of dams in the Huai He River Basin considering ecological and management factors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shui, Y.; Liu, H. C.; Li, L. H.; Yu, G. G.; Liu, J.

2016-08-01

Research that assesses the scheduling ability of dams gamers a great deal of attention due to the global water resource crisis. These studies can provide useful and practical suggestions for scheduling the water resources of dams to solve problems, such as addressing ecological water needs and so on. Recent studies have primarily evaluated the schedule ability of dams according to their quantifiable attributes, such as water quantity, flow velocity, etc. However, the ecological and management status can directly determine the possibility and efficiency of a dam's water resource scheduling. This paper presents an evaluation model to assess the scheduling capacity of dams that takes into consideration ecological and management factors. In the experiment stage, this paper takes the Sha Ying river of the Huai He River Basin as an example to evaluate the scheduling ability of its dams. The results indicate that the proposed evaluation model can provide more precise and practical suggestions.

Assessing trade-offs in large marine protected areas

PubMed Central

Aguilera, Stacy E.; Brooks, Cassandra M.; Cox, Michael; Evans, Louisa S.; Maxwell, Sara M.; Nenadovic, Mateja

2018-01-01

Large marine protected areas (LMPAs) are increasingly being established and have a high profile in marine conservation. LMPAs are expected to achieve multiple objectives, and because of their size are postulated to avoid trade-offs that are common in smaller MPAs. However, evaluations across multiple outcomes are lacking. We used a systematic approach to code several social and ecological outcomes of 12 LMPAs. We found evidence of three types of trade-offs: trade-offs between different ecological resources (supply trade-offs); trade-offs between ecological resource conditions and the well-being of resource users (supply-demand trade-offs); and trade-offs between the well-being outcomes of different resource users (demand trade-offs). We also found several divergent outcomes that were attributed to influences beyond the scope of the LMPA. We suggest that despite their size, trade-offs can develop in LMPAs and should be considered in planning and design. LMPAs may improve their performance across multiple social and ecological objectives if integrated with larger-scale conservation efforts. PMID:29668750

Natural cycles and agricultural inputs: a farm gate Ecological Footprint analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Passeri, Nicolo; Blasi, Emanuele; Borucke, Michael; Galli, Alessandro; Franco, Silvio

2014-05-01

Land suitability for different crops depends on soil, water and climate conditions, as well as farmers' cultivation choices. Moreover, the use of agricultural inputs affects the natural cycles of crops and impacts their production. By assessing the ecological performance of farms as influenced by crop types, cultivation choices and land suitability one can therefore evaluate the effectiveness of agricultural practices and governance's options. Ecological Footprint accounts can be used to measure such ecological performance. These accounts track human demand for natural resources and ecological services and compare this demand with nature ability to regenerate these resource and services. This regenerative capacity is called biocapacity. Both demand (Footprint) and supply (biocapacity) are expressed in global hectares. Farming different from most other human activities, not only uses natural resources, but also enhances or erodes ecological supply. It therefore affects all factors that determine both Footprint and biocapacity. Climate, farmers' skills and choices (fertilizers, pesticides, machines) determine crop productivity, and to what extent crops preserve or compromise soils. The aim of this work is to evaluate how farmer's choices affect resources overexploitation. The study analysed how the use of inputs influences natural cycles within farm boundaries. This result from a pilot case study will show how particular farming practices affect both the farm's biocapacity and Ecological Footprint. Such analysis is relevant for informing involved stakeholders, namely the farmers on more sustainable agricultural practices and the policy makers on more suitable agricultural policies.

Environmental resources of selected areas of Hawaii: Ecological resources

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

Trettin, C.C.; Tolbert, V.R.; Jones, A.T.

1995-03-01

This report has been prepared to make available and archive the background scientific data and related information collected on ecological resources during the preparation of the environmental impact statement (EIS) for Phases 3 and 4 of the Hawaii Geothermal Project (HGP) as defined by the state of Hawaii in its April 1989 proposal to Congress. Since the state of Hawaii is no longer pursuing or planning to pursue the HGP, DOE considers the project to be terminated. The background scientific data and related information presented in this report focus on several areas of Hawaii County. In this report, reference ismore » made to these areas as study areas rather than as areas where proposed or alternative facilities of the HGP would be located. The resource areas addressed herein include terrestrial ecology, aquatic ecology, and marine ecology. The scientific background data and related information that were obtained from review of the (1) scientific literature, (2) government and private sector reports, (3) studies done under DOE interagency agreements with the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and with the US Army Corps of Engineers (COE), and (4) observations made during site visits are being made available for future research in these areas.« less

Homo Heuristicus: Less-is-More Effects in Adaptive Cognition

PubMed Central

Brighton, Henry; Gigerenzer, Gerd

2012-01-01

Heuristics are efficient cognitive processes that ignore information. In contrast to the widely held view that less processing reduces accuracy, the study of heuristics shows that less information, computation, and time can in fact improve accuracy. We discuss some of the major progress made so far, focusing on the discovery of less-is-more effects and the study of the ecological rationality of heuristics which examines in which environments a given strategy succeeds or fails, and why. Homo heuristicus has a biased mind and ignores part of the available information, yet a biased mind can handle uncertainty more efficiently and robustly than an unbiased mind relying on more resource-intensive and general-purpose processing strategies. PMID:23613644

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

Konopka, Allan

The activities of complex communities of microbes affect biogeochemical transformations in natural, managed and engineered ecosystems. Meaningfully defining what constitutes a community of interacting microbial populations is not trivial, but is important for rigorous progress in the field. Important elements of research in microbial community ecology include the analysis of functional pathways for nutrient resource and energy flows, mechanistic understanding of interactions between microbial populations and their environment, and the emergent properties of the complex community. Some emergent properties mirror those analyzed by community ecologists who study plants and animals: biological diversity, functional redundancy and system stability. However, because microbesmore » possess mechanisms for the horizontal transfer of genetic information, the metagenome may also be considered a community property.« less

Molecular genetics at the Fort Collins Science Center

USGS Publications Warehouse

Oyler-McCance, S.J.; Stevens, P.D.

2011-01-01

The Fort Collins Science Center operates a molecular genetic and systematics research facility (FORT Molecular Ecology Laboratory) that uses molecular genetic tools to provide genetic information needed to inform natural resource management decisions. For many wildlife species, the data generated have become increasingly important in the development of their long-term management strategies, leading to a better understanding of species diversity, population dynamics and ecology, and future conservation and management needs. The Molecular Ecology Lab serves Federal research and resource management agencies by developing scientifically rigorous research programs using nuclear, mitochondrial and chloroplast DNA to help address many of today's conservation biology and natural resource management issues.

Can we manage for resilience? The integration of resilience thinking into natural resource management in the united states

EPA Science Inventory

The concept of resilience is now frequently invoked by natural resource agencies in the United States. This reflects growing trends within ecology, conservation biology, and other disciplines acknowledging that social-ecological systems require management approaches recognizing ...

Natural Resources and Forest Ecology. Florida Vocational Program Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Florida State Univ., Tallahassee. Center for Instructional Development and Services.

This program guide identifies primary considerations in the organization, operation, and evaluation of a natural resources and forest ecology program. Program content is presented first. A curriculum framework specifies the exact course title, course number, levels of instruction, major course content, laboratory activities, special notes, major…

STATISTICAL ISSUES FOR MONITORING ECOLOGICAL AND NATURAL RESOURCES IN THE UNITED STATES

EPA Science Inventory

The United States funds a number of national monitoring programs to measure the status and trends of ecological and natural resources. Each of these programs has a unique focus: the scientific objectives are different as are the sample designs. However, individuals and committees...

Geography as Human Ecology: A Decade of Progress in a Quarter Century

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Porter, Philip W.

1978-01-01

Traces advances in human ecology from 1954-1978, considers research methodology used by geographers to study human ecology, and summarizes major research findings. Concludes that geographers should develop models to explain mutual relations of people and environment. (Author/DB)

EcoEvo-MAPS: An Ecology and Evolution Assessment for Introductory through Advanced Undergraduates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Summers, Mindi M.; Couch, Brian A.; Knight, Jennifer K.; Brownell, Sara E.; Crowe, Alison J.; Semsar, Katharine; Wright, Christian D.; Smith, Michelle K.

2018-01-01

A new assessment tool, Ecology and Evolution--Measuring Achievement and Progression in Science or EcoEvo-MAPS, measures student thinking in ecology and evolution during an undergraduate course of study. EcoEvo-MAPS targets foundational concepts in ecology and evolution and uses a novel approach that asks students to evaluate a series of…

A Catalog of Educational Resources in Communication Arts, Cultural Ecology, and Environmental Studies for the Small High School Teacher. Curriculum Resources for the Alaskan Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Madsen, Eric; And Others

A catalog of semi-annotated topical listings of curriculum resources, published between 1960 and 1980, for use by educators in small Alaska high schools, contains sections on communication arts (108 items), cultural ecology (269 items), and environmental studies (363 items). Listings are presented on pages ruled into grids; for each item the…

A vegetational and ecological resource analysis from space and high flight photography

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Poulton, C. E.; Faulkner, D. P.; Schrumpf, B. J.

1970-01-01

A hierarchial classification of vegetation and related resources is considered that is applicable to convert remote sensing data in space and aerial synoptic photography. The numerical symbolization provides for three levels of vegetational classification and three levels of classification of environmental features associated with each vegetational class. It is shown that synoptic space photography accurately projects how urban sprawl affects agricultural land use areas and ecological resources.

Environmental Assessment for the Outgrant of Real Estate and Construction of JP-8 Pipeline and Receiving Facility at Travis Air Force Base

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-11-01

ruderal plant vegetation. The area does not consist of a unique or ecologically sensitive habitat; therefore, potential impacts to vegetation would be...Name Degree Resource(s) Years of Experience Henry, Michael PhD, Ecology , Evolution , and Marine Biology B.S., Aquatic Biology -Lead Technical...Management. August. Fairfield, CA. Solano County. 2007. Final Environment Impact Report (EIR)—Montezuma Wind Plant Project. Prepared by Ecology and

Diet and Diversification in the Evolution of Coral Reef Fishes

PubMed Central

Lobato, Fabio L.; Barneche, Diego R.; Siqueira, Alexandre C.; Liedke, Ana M. R.; Lindner, Alberto; Pie, Marcio R.; Bellwood, David R.; Floeter, Sergio R.

2014-01-01

The disparity in species richness among evolutionary lineages is one of the oldest and most intriguing issues in evolutionary biology. Although geographical factors have been traditionally thought to promote speciation, recent studies have underscored the importance of ecological interactions as one of the main drivers of diversification. Here, we test if differences in species richness of closely related lineages match predictions based on the concept of density-dependent diversification. As radiation progresses, ecological niche-space would become increasingly saturated, resulting in fewer opportunities for speciation. To assess this hypothesis, we tested whether reef fish niche shifts toward usage of low-quality food resources (i.e. relatively low energy/protein per unit mass), such as algae, detritus, sponges and corals are accompanied by rapid net diversification. Using available molecular information, we reconstructed phylogenies of four major reef fish clades (Acanthuroidei, Chaetodontidae, Labridae and Pomacentridae) to estimate the timing of radiations of their subclades. We found that the evolution of species-rich clades was associated with a switch to low quality food in three of the four clades analyzed, which is consistent with a density-dependent model of diversification. We suggest that ecological opportunity may play an important role in understanding the diversification of reef-fish lineages. PMID:25029229

Unequal exposure to ecological hazards: environmental injustices in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

PubMed Central

Faber, Daniel R; Krieg, Eric J

2002-01-01

This study analyzes the social and geographic distribution of ecological hazards across 368 communities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Combining census data with a variety of environmental data, we tested for and identified both income-based and racially based biases to the geographic distribution of 17 different types of environmentally hazardous sites and industrial facilities. We also developed a composite measure of cumulative exposure to compare the relative overall risks characteristic of each community. To the best of our knowledge, this point system makes this the first environmental justice study to develop a means for measuring and ranking cumulative exposure for communities. The study also controls for the intensity of hazards in each community by accounting for the area across which hazards are distributed. The findings indicate that ecologically hazardous sites and facilities are disproportionately located and concentrated in communities of color and working-class communities. The implication of this research for policymakers and citizen advocates is that cumulative exposure of residents to environmentally hazardous facilities and sites should receive greater consideration regarding community demographics and environmental health indicators. We conclude that the provision of additional resources for environmental monitoring and ranking, as well as yearly progress reports, is necessary for communities and state agencies to achieve equal access to clean and healthy environments for all residents. PMID:11929739

How similar can co-occurring species be in the presence of competition and ecological drift?

PubMed

Capitán, José A; Cuenda, Sara; Alonso, David

2015-09-06

If two species live on a single resource, the one with a slight advantage will out-compete the other: complete competitors cannot coexist. This is known as the competitive exclusion principle. If no extinction occurs, it is because evolutionary adaptation to slightly different niches takes place. Therefore, it is widely accepted that ecological communities are assembled by evolutionary differentiation and progressive adaptation of species to different niches. However, some ecologists have recently challenged this classic paradigm highlighting the importance of chance and stochasticity. Using a synthetic framework for community dynamics, here we show that, while deterministic descriptors predict coexistence, species similarity is limited in a more restrictive way in the presence of stochasticity. We analyse the stochastic extinction phenomenon, showing that extinction occurs as competitive overlap increases above a certain threshold well below its deterministic counterpart. We also prove that the extinction threshold cannot be ascribed only to demographic fluctuations around small population sizes. The more restrictive limit to species similarity is, therefore, a consequence of the complex interplay between competitive interactions and ecological drift. As a practical implication, we show that the existence of a stochastic limit to similarity has important consequences in the recovery of fragmented habitats. © 2015 The Author(s).

Linking ecosystem characteristics to final ecosystem services for public policy

PubMed Central

Wong, Christina P; Jiang, Bo; Kinzig, Ann P; Lee, Kai N; Ouyang, Zhiyun

2015-01-01

Governments worldwide are recognising ecosystem services as an approach to address sustainability challenges. Decision-makers need credible and legitimate measurements of ecosystem services to evaluate decisions for trade-offs to make wise choices. Managers lack these measurements because of a data gap linking ecosystem characteristics to final ecosystem services. The dominant method to address the data gap is benefit transfer using ecological data from one location to estimate ecosystem services at other locations with similar land cover. However, benefit transfer is only valid once the data gap is adequately resolved. Disciplinary frames separating ecology from economics and policy have resulted in confusion on concepts and methods preventing progress on the data gap. In this study, we present a 10-step approach to unify concepts, methods and data from the disparate disciplines to offer guidance on overcoming the data gap. We suggest: (1) estimate ecosystem characteristics using biophysical models, (2) identify final ecosystem services using endpoints and (3) connect them using ecological production functions to quantify biophysical trade-offs. The guidance is strategic for public policy because analysts need to be: (1) realistic when setting priorities, (2) attentive to timelines to acquire relevant data, given resources and (3) responsive to the needs of decision-makers. PMID:25394857

How similar can co-occurring species be in the presence of competition and ecological drift?

PubMed Central

Capitán, José A.; Cuenda, Sara; Alonso, David

2015-01-01

If two species live on a single resource, the one with a slight advantage will out-compete the other: complete competitors cannot coexist. This is known as the competitive exclusion principle. If no extinction occurs, it is because evolutionary adaptation to slightly different niches takes place. Therefore, it is widely accepted that ecological communities are assembled by evolutionary differentiation and progressive adaptation of species to different niches. However, some ecologists have recently challenged this classic paradigm highlighting the importance of chance and stochasticity. Using a synthetic framework for community dynamics, here we show that, while deterministic descriptors predict coexistence, species similarity is limited in a more restrictive way in the presence of stochasticity. We analyse the stochastic extinction phenomenon, showing that extinction occurs as competitive overlap increases above a certain threshold well below its deterministic counterpart. We also prove that the extinction threshold cannot be ascribed only to demographic fluctuations around small population sizes. The more restrictive limit to species similarity is, therefore, a consequence of the complex interplay between competitive interactions and ecological drift. As a practical implication, we show that the existence of a stochastic limit to similarity has important consequences in the recovery of fragmented habitats. PMID:26269234

An Ecological Analysis of the Dynamics of Localities: A 14+ Low Opportunity Progression Equilibrium in Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hodgson, Ann; Spours, Ken

2015-01-01

This article uses a multi-level ecological model to explore the dynamics of localities in England and their effects on the 14+ participation, progression and transition (14+ PPT) of young people at a time when nationally and internationally there is a recognition that transitions from education to employment are both more complex and take longer.…

The eco-evolutionary responses of a generalist consumer to resource competition.

PubMed

Abrams, Peter A

2012-10-01

This article explores the combined evolutionary and ecological responses of resource uptake abilities in a generalist consumer to exploitative competition for one resource using a simple 2-resource model. It compares the sizes of ecologically and evolutionarily caused changes in population densities in cases where the original consumer has a strong or a weak trade-off in its abilities to consume the two resources. The analysis also compares the responses of the original species to competition when the competitor's population size is or is not limited by the shared resource. Although divergence in resource use traits in the resident generalist consumer is expected under all scenarios when resources are substitutable, the changes in population densities of the resources and resident consumer frequently differ between scenarios. The population of the original consumer often decreases as a result of its own adaptive divergence, and this decrease is often much greater than the initial ecological decrease. If the evolving consumer has a strong trade-off, the overlapped resource increases in equilibrium population density in response to being consumed by a generalist competitor. Some of these predictions differ qualitatively in alternative scenarios involving sustained variation in population densities or nutritionally essential resources. © 2012 The Author(s). Evolution© 2012 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Ecological thresholds as a basis for defining management triggers for National Park Service vital signs: case studies for dryland ecosystems

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bowker, Matthew A.; Miller, Mark E.; Belote, R. Travis; Garman, Steven L.

2013-01-01

Threshold concepts are used in research and management of ecological systems to describe and interpret abrupt and persistent reorganization of ecosystem properties (Walker and Meyers, 2004; Groffman and others, 2006). Abrupt change, referred to as a threshold crossing, and the progression of reorganization can be triggered by one or more interactive disturbances such as land-use activities and climatic events (Paine and others, 1998). Threshold crossings occur when feedback mechanisms that typically absorb forces of change are replaced with those that promote development of alternative equilibria or states (Suding and others, 2004; Walker and Meyers, 2004; Briske and others, 2008). The alternative states that emerge from a threshold crossing vary and often exhibit reduced ecological integrity and value in terms of management goals relative to the original or reference system. Alternative stable states with some limited residual properties of the original system may develop along the progression after a crossing; an eventual outcome may be the complete loss of pre-threshold properties of the original ecosystem. Reverting to the more desirable reference state through ecological restoration becomes increasingly difficult and expensive along the progression gradient and may eventually become impossible. Ecological threshold concepts have been applied as a heuristic framework and to aid in the management of rangelands (Bestelmeyer, 2006; Briske and others, 2006, 2008), aquatic (Scheffer and others, 1993; Rapport and Whitford 1999), riparian (Stringham and others, 2001; Scott and others, 2005), and forested ecosystems (Allen and others, 2002; Digiovinazzo and others, 2010). These concepts are also topical in ecological restoration (Hobbs and Norton 1996; Whisenant 1999; Suding and others, 2004; King and Hobbs, 2006) and ecosystem sustainability (Herrick, 2000; Chapin and others, 1996; Davenport and others, 1998). Achieving conservation management goals requires the protection of resources within the range of desired conditions (Cook and others, 2010). The goal of conservation management for natural resources in the U.S. National Park System is to maintain native species and habitat unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations. Achieving this goal requires, in part, early detection of system change and timely implementation of remediation. The recent National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring program (NPS I&M) was established to provide early warning of declining ecosystem conditions relative to a desired native or reference system (Fancy and others, 2009). To be an effective tool for resource protection, monitoring must be designed to alert managers of impending thresholds so that preventive actions can be taken. This requires an understanding of the ecosystem attributes and processes associated with threshold-type behavior; how these attributes and processes become degraded; and how risks of degradation vary among ecosystems and in relation to environmental factors such as soil properties, climatic conditions, and exposure to stressors. In general, the utility of the threshold concept for long-term monitoring depends on the ability of scientists and managers to detect, predict, and prevent the occurrence of threshold crossings associated with persistent, undesirable shifts among ecosystem states (Briske and others, 2006). Because of the scientific challenges associated with understanding these factors, the application of threshold concepts to monitoring designs has been very limited to date (Groffman and others, 2006). As a case in point, the monitoring efforts across the 32 NPS I&M networks were largely designed with the knowledge that they would not be used to their full potential until the development of a systematic method for understanding threshold dynamics and methods for estimating key attributes of threshold crossings. This report describes and demonstrates a generalized approach that we implemented to formalize understanding and estimating of threshold dynamics for terrestrial dryland ecosystems in national parks of the Colorado Plateau. We provide a structured approach to identify and describe degradation processes associated with threshold behavior and to estimate indicator levels that characterize the point at which a threshold crossing has occurred or is imminent (tipping points) or points where investigative or preventive management action should be triggered (assessment points). We illustrate this method for several case studies in national parks included in the Northern and Southern Colorado Plateau NPS I&M networks, where historical livestock grazing, climatic change, and invasive species are key agents of change. The approaches developed in these case studies are intended to enhance the design, effectiveness, and management-relevance of monitoring efforts in support of conservation management in dryland systems. They specifically enhance National Park Service (NPS) capacity for protecting park resources on the Colorado Plateau but have applicability to monitoring and conservation management of dryland ecosystems worldwide.

Photographic catalog of Platygastroidea (Hymenoptera) in the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources (Hanoi, Vietnam)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

All holotypes of Platygastroidea housed in the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources were photographed and these images are now publicly available online, as are images of most species represented in this collection by paratypes alone. Following examination of these specimens, the following ...

Upland Oak Ecology Symposium: A Synthesis

Treesearch

Martin A. Spetich

2004-01-01

Recent changes in upland forests of the Interior Highlands have raised the interest of and questions from professional resource specialists and the public. This renewed interest in Interior Highland forests provided researchers an opportunity to update resource specialists on new knowledge regarding upland oak ecology. Symposium presentations and the papers presented...

Temporal and Spatial Distribution of Ecological Security in Arid Region Based on GIS: A Case Study in Xinjiang

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Q.; Song, W.; Yang, J.

2017-12-01

Ecological security is close related to the people's survival and development. In the context of the global warming, with the increasingly frequent human activities, ecological and environmental problems have become increasingly prominent. Ecological security has aroused widespread concern, especially in the arid region. It has an important role in national security as well as political security, military security, economic security, social security. Taken Xinjiang as the research area, which is a typical arid region in China, this study establishes an ecological safety assessment indicator system from perspective of the generic process and the formation mechanism of the ecosystem. The framework is based on natural resources dimensions, natural environment dimensions and human disturbance dimensions. Water is the restrictive factor for the development of arid region, so the water resources carrying capacity is the main natural resource of the study area. The natural environment includes SPI(standardized precipitation index), dryness index, landscape vulnerability, NDVI. Human disturbance includes urbanization rate, population density, afforestation area, per capita GDP, water-saving irrigation area, fertilizer and pesticide application, agriculture Mechanical power, energy consumption. The expert scoring method and the coefficient of variation method are used to determine the weight of each indicator, and finally a comprehensive index is constructed to evaluate the ecological security of Xinjiang, that is, the ecological security index. The results indicate that the ecological security of Xinjiang is 0.43, which is in the critical area. The ecological security of Hami, Turpan and Karamay is the lowest, and the ecological security of the Arabian and Yili is the highest. The ecological security of the south in the Xinjiang is higher than that in the north. In short, ecological environment of Xinjiang is in a sensitive period. Effective ecological protection policy will ameliorate the ecological environment, on the contrary, high-intensity human activities will make it tends to deteriorate. This research would provide scientific guidance and suggestions for the ecological environment protection and sustainable development of Xinjiang.

33 CFR 332.5 - Ecological performance standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Ecological performance standards..., DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE COMPENSATORY MITIGATION FOR LOSSES OF AQUATIC RESOURCES § 332.5 Ecological performance... objective and verifiable. Ecological performance standards must be based on the best available science that...

Implementing Eco-Logical 2014-2015 Annual Report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-12-01

The Eco-Logical approach offers an ecosystem-based framework for integrated infrastructure and natural resource planning, project development, and delivery. The 2014/2015 Implementing Eco-Logical Program Annual Report provides updates on the Federal ...

"What we need is a crop ecologist": ecology and agricultural science in Progressive-era America.

PubMed

Hersey, Mark D

2011-01-01

Though they are often seen as foils for each other, ecology and agricultural science co-evolved. With shared roots in late nineteenth-century botany, ecologists and agronomists fostered important connections during the Progressive era that have been largely overlooked despite a number of finely nuanced studies of ecology's origins. But if 'applied ecology' once effectively meant agriculture, over the course of the first decades of the twentieth century the relationship between ecology and scientific agriculture grew strained. Agriculturists narrowed their focus to increasing yields, and ecologists sought to establish their discipline as a distant theoretical science and so distanced themselves from its agricultural applications. By the end of World War I, the process of disciplinary specialization was well underway. In time, the two disciplines diverged so completely that the once vital connections between them were obscured and forgotten.

Proceedings of the Department of Defense Natural Resources Leadership Conference Held in Colorado Springs, CO on 12-16 August 1991

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-11-22

the stewards of more than 25 million acres of land. Our military installations contain some of our Nation’s most sensitive and ecologically valuable...8 1 The Natural Resources Manager’s Role in the Superfund Program’s Ecological Risk Assessment M r. M att K lo...these cleanup sites are in remote parts of the country, and as such, were not of immediate concern for cleanup. Now that ecological restoration is a

Pawcatuck River and Narragansett Bay Drainage Basins Water and Related Land Resources Study. Big River Reservoir Project. Volume I. Main Report.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-07-01

Bristol County Water Company Kent County Water Authority Audubon Society of Rhode Island Rhode Island League of Women Voters Ecology Action for Rhode Island...restoration, or improvement of the quality of certain natural and cultural resources and ecological systems. The NED objectives can be achieved by...achieved by the same project purposes, if properly applied. Flood control measures that include or allow preser- vation of ecologically valuable wetland

Ecological Research Division Theoretical Ecology Program. [Contains abstracts

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

Not Available

1990-10-01

This report presents the goals of the Theoretical Ecology Program and abstracts of research in progress. Abstracts cover both theoretical research that began as part of the terrestrial ecology core program and new projects funded by the theoretical program begun in 1988. Projects have been clustered into four major categories: Ecosystem dynamics; landscape/scaling dynamics; population dynamics; and experiment/sample design.

The use of ecological classification in management

Treesearch

Constance A. Carpenter; Wolf-Dieter Busch; David T. Cleland; Juan Gallegos; Rick Harris; ray Holm; Chris Topik; Al Williamson

1999-01-01

Ecological classificafion systems range over a variety of scales and reflect a variety of scientific viewpoints. They incorporate or emphasize varied arrays of environmental factors. Ecological classifications have been developed for marine, wetland, lake, stream, and terrestrial ecosystems. What are the benefits of ecological classification for natural resource...

Covariations in ecological scaling laws fostered by community dynamics.

PubMed

Zaoli, Silvia; Giometto, Andrea; Maritan, Amos; Rinaldo, Andrea

2017-10-03

Scaling laws in ecology, intended both as functional relationships among ecologically relevant quantities and the probability distributions that characterize their occurrence, have long attracted the interest of empiricists and theoreticians. Empirical evidence exists of power laws associated with the number of species inhabiting an ecosystem, their abundances, and traits. Although their functional form appears to be ubiquitous, empirical scaling exponents vary with ecosystem type and resource supply rate. The idea that ecological scaling laws are linked has been entertained before, but the full extent of macroecological pattern covariations, the role of the constraints imposed by finite resource supply, and a comprehensive empirical verification are still unexplored. Here, we propose a theoretical scaling framework that predicts the linkages of several macroecological patterns related to species' abundances and body sizes. We show that such a framework is consistent with the stationary-state statistics of a broad class of resource-limited community dynamics models, regardless of parameterization and model assumptions. We verify predicted theoretical covariations by contrasting empirical data and provide testable hypotheses for yet unexplored patterns. We thus place the observed variability of ecological scaling exponents into a coherent statistical framework where patterns in ecology embed constrained fluctuations.

The importance of relative humidity and trophic resources in governing ecological niche of the invasive carabid beetle Merizodus soledadinus in the Kerguelen archipelago.

PubMed

Ouisse, Tiphaine; Bonte, Dries; Lebouvier, Marc; Hendrickx, Frederik; Renault, David

Comprehensive studies to identify species-specific drivers of survival to environmental stress, reproduction, growth, and recruitment are vital to gaining a better understanding of the main ecological factors shaping species habitat distribution and dispersal routes. The present study performed a field-based assessment of habitat distribution in the invasive carabid beetle Merizodus soledadinus for the Kerguelen archipelago. The results emphasised humid habitats as a key element of the insect's realised niche. In addition, insects faced food and water stress during dispersal events. We evaluated quantitatively how water availability and trophic resources governed the spatial distribution of this invasive predatory insect at Îles Kerguelen. Food and water stress survival durations [in 100%, 70%, and 30% relative humidity (RH) conditions] and changes in a set of primary metabolic compounds (metabolomics) were determined. Adult M. soledadinus supplied with water ad libitum were highly tolerant to prolonged starvation (LT 50 =51.7±6.2d). However, food-deprived insect survival decreased rapidly in moderate (70% RH, LT 50 =30.37±1.39h) and low (30% RH, LT 50 =13.03±0.48h) RH conditions. Consistently, body water content decreased rapidly in insects exposed to 70% and 30% RH. Metabolic variation evidenced the effects of food deprivation in control insects (exposed to 100% RH), which exhibited a progressive decline of most glycolytic sugars and tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates. Most metabolite levels were elevated levels during the first few hours of exposure to 30% and 70% RH. Augmented alanine and lactate levels suggested a shift to anaerobic metabolism. Simultaneously, peaks in threonine and glycolytic sugars pointed to metabolic disruption and a progressive physiological breakdown in dehydrating individuals. Overall, the results of our study indicate that the geographic distribution of M. soledadinus populations is highly dependent on habitat RH and water accessibility. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Civic Ecology: A Postmodern Approach to Ecological Sustainability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lopes, V. L.

2013-12-01

Human agency is transforming the planetary processes at unprecedented rates risking damaging essential life-support systems. Climate change, massive species extinction, land degradation, resources depletion, overpopulation, poverty and social injustice are all the result of human choices and non-sustainable ways of life. The survival of our modern economic systems depends upon insatiable consumption - a simple way of life no longer satisfies most people. Detached, instrumental rationality has created an ideal of liberalism based on individual pursuit of self-interest, leading the way into unprecedented material progress but bringing with it human alienation, social injustice, and ecological degradation. The purpose of this presentation is to introduce a community-based systems response to a growing sense that the interlocked social-ecological crisis is as much a problem of human thought and behavior as it is about identifying carrying capacities and CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere. This approach, referred to here as civic ecology, presents a new and important paradigm shift in sustainability practice that attempts to bring together and integrate ecological ideas and postmodern thinking. As such, it is as much a holistic, dynamic, and synergistic approach to ecological sustainability, as it is a philosophy of life and ethical perspective born of ecological understanding and insight. Civic ecology starts with the proposition that the key factor determining the health of the ecosphere is the behavior of human beings, and therefore many of the most important issues related to sustainability lie in the areas of human thought and culture. Thus, the quest for sustainability must include as a central concern the transformation of psychological and behavioral patterns that have become an imminent danger to planetary health. At the core of this understanding is a fundamental paradigm shift from the basic commitments of modern Western culture to its model of mechanism and fragmentary modes of existence, to a more relational (ecological) view of the world in which balance and harmony are achieved by ever-changing complexity and differentiation. Central to this view is the recognition that human communities will become increasingly more just and sustainable if their citizens understand, are committed to, and share, a set of values and ecological principles. Shared purposes and principles, however, cannot be handed down from above but must be developed from the bottom-up through community engagement and ecological citizenship.

2013/2014 Eco-Logical program annual report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-12-01

The Eco-Logical approach offers an ecosystem-based framework for integrated infrastructure and natural resource planning, project development, and delivery. The 2013/2014 Eco-Logical Program Annual Report provides updates on the Federal Highway Admin...

Economics research supporting water resource stewardship in the Pacific Northwest.

Treesearch

Laurie L. Houston; Jeffrey D. Kline; Ralph J. Alig

2002-01-01

The use of water increasingly involves complex tradeoffs among biophysical, economic, ecological, and societal values. Knowledge about the value of water to different users and methods with which to evaluate biophysical, economic, ecological, and social tradeoffs associated with allocating limited water resources among competing uses is vital to devising appropriate...

Grassland ecology and diversity (Ecologia y diversidad de pastizales)

Treesearch

Laurie B. Abbott

2006-01-01

Grasslands of the Chihuahuan Desert region are ecologically and economically important. These grasslands are valued for their rangeland, wildlife, watershed, and recreation resources. Biological diversity also raises the value of grassland communities. The potential for multiple uses within the region increases as the diversity of the resource base increases. In order...

Climate and Land Use Change Effects on Ecological Resources in Three Watersheds: A Synthesis Report (Final Report)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA announced the availability of the final report, Climate and Land-Use Change Effects on Ecological Resources in Three Watersheds: A Synthesis Report. This report provides a summary of climate change impacts to selected watersheds and recommendations for how to improv...

Caring for Nature 101, or Alternative Perspectives on Educating Natural Resource Managers and Ecologically Conscious Citizens.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Booth, Annie L.

1998-01-01

Examines the contributions of alternative perspectives from environmental philosophy to university teaching practices that address the question of how to produce ecologically educated citizens. Considers the challenges to modern resource education found in feminist and ecofeminist philosophies and in Aldo Leopold's "Land Ethic."…

Application of remote sensing to solution of ecological problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adelman, A.

1972-01-01

The application of remote sensing techniques to solving ecological problems is discussed. The three phases of environmental ecological management are examined. The differences between discovery and exploitation of natural resources and their ecological management are described. The specific application of remote sensing to water management is developed.

Evidence and opportunities for integrating landscape ecology into natural resource planning across multiple-use landscapes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Trammel, E. Jamie; Carter, Sarah; Haby, Travis S.; Taylor, Jason J.

2018-01-01

Enhancing natural resource management has been a focus of landscape ecology since its inception, but numerous authors argue that landscape ecology has not yet been effective in achieving the underlying goal of planning and designing sustainable landscapes. We developed nine questions reflecting the application of fundamental research topics in landscape ecology to the landscape planning process and reviewed two recent landscape-scale plans in western North America for evidence of these concepts in plan decisions. Both plans considered multiple resources, uses, and values, including energy development, recreation, conservation, and protection of cultural and historic resources. We found that land use change and multiscale perspectives of resource uses and values were very often apparent in planning decisions. Pattern-process relationships, connectivity and fragmentation, ecosystem services, landscape history, and climate change were reflected less frequently. Landscape sustainability was considered only once in the 295 decisions reviewed, and outputs of landscape models were not referenced. We suggest six actionable opportunities for further integrating landscape ecology concepts into landscape planning efforts: 1) use landscape sustainability as an overarching goal, 2) adopt a broad ecosystem services framework, 3) explore the role of landscape history more comprehensively, 4) regularly consider and accommodate potential effects of climate change, 5) use landscape models to support plan decisions, and 6) promote a greater presence of landscape ecologists within agencies that manage large land bases and encourage active involvement in agency planning efforts. Together these actions may improve the defensibility, durability, and sustainability of landscape plan decisions.

Environmental Resources of Selected Areas of Hawaii: Ecological Resources (DRAFT)

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

Trettin, C.C.; Tolbert, V.R.; Jones, A.T.

1994-06-01

This report has been prepared to make available and archive the background scientific data and related information collected on ecological resources during the preparation of the environmental impact statement (EIS) for Phases 3 and 4 of the Hawaii Geothermal Project (HGP) as defined by the state of Hawaii in its April 1989 proposal to Congress. The U.S. Department of Energy (COE) published a notice in the Federal Register on May 17, 1994 (Fed. Regist. 5925638) withdrawing its Notice of Intent (Fed. Regst. 575433) of February 14, 1992, to prepare the HGP-EIS. Since the state of Hawaii is no longer pursuingmore » or planning to pursue the HGP, DOE considers the project to be terminated. The background scientific data and related information presented in this report focus on several areas of Hawaii County, including the southeastern coast, a potential development corridor along the Saddle Road between Hilo and the North Kohala District on the northwestern coast, and on the southeastern coast of Maui. In this report, reference is made to these areas as study areas rather than as areas where proposed or alternative facilities of the HGP would be located. The resource areas addressed herein include terrestrial ecology, aquatic ecology, and marine ecology. The scientific background data and related information is being made available for future research in these areas. This report describes the environmental resources present in the areas studied (i.e., the affected environment) and does not represent an assessment of environmental impacts.« less

Progress toward understanding the contribution of alkali generation in dental biofilms to inhibition of dental caries

PubMed Central

Liu, Ya-Ling; Nascimento, Marcelle; Burne, Robert A

2012-01-01

Alkali production by oral bacteria is believed to have a major impact on oral microbial ecology and to be inibitory to the initiation and progression of dental caries. A substantial body of evidence is beginning to accumulate that indicates the modulation of the alkalinogenic potential of dental biofilms may be a promising strategy for caries control. This brief review highlights recent progress toward understanding molecular genetic and physiologic aspects of important alkali-generating pathways in oral bacteria, and the role of alkali production in the ecology of dental biofilms in health and disease. PMID:22996271

Ecological literacy materials for use in elementary schools: A critical analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chambers, Joan Maureen

My research is a critical examination of environmental science education resources for use in Alberta schools. I examine both the resources and the processes by which these resources are developed by diverse groups. My inquiry is guided by the following question: What is the nature of the discourse of ecological literacy in the promotion and content of teaching materials in elementary schools in Alberta? This critical analysis centres on the discourses, language, and perspectives (both hidden and overt) of these resources and processes; the manifestation of political agendas; existing relations; and the inclusion or exclusion of alternate views. Framed within critical theory and an ecosocial construct, my methodology employs critical discourse analysis and hermeneutic interpretation. I analyse selected environmental science resources produced for the elementary classroom by government and nongovernment organizations. I also interview the producers and/or writers of these instructional resources to provide the perspectives of some of the developers of these materials. The findings illustrate how the discursive management of the view of nature, human-nature relationships, uncertainty, multiple perspectives, and dimensions of ecological literacy in materials for schools offer students a particular perspective. These ecological and science discourses act to shape their personal relationships with nature and notions of environmental responsibility and consciousness. This research is necessary because, particularly in Alberta, corporate interests have the potential to impact school curricula. The study points to a need for a critical appraisal of resources for schools produced by the environmental science community.

Getting the message across: using ecological integrity to communicate with resource managers

USGS Publications Warehouse

Mitchell, Brian R.; Tierney, Geraldine L.; Schweiger, E. William; Miller, Kathryn M.; Faber-Langendoen, Don; Grace, James B.

2014-01-01

This chapter describes and illustrates how concepts of ecological integrity, thresholds, and reference conditions can be integrated into a research and monitoring framework for natural resource management. Ecological integrity has been defined as a measure of the composition, structure, and function of an ecosystem in relation to the system’s natural or historical range of variation, as well as perturbations caused by natural or anthropogenic agents of change. Using ecological integrity to communicate with managers requires five steps, often implemented iteratively: (1) document the scale of the project and the current conceptual understanding and reference conditions of the ecosystem, (2) select appropriate metrics representing integrity, (3) define externally verified assessment points (metric values that signify an ecological change or need for management action) for the metrics, (4) collect data and calculate metric scores, and (5) summarize the status of the ecosystem using a variety of reporting methods. While we present the steps linearly for conceptual clarity, actual implementation of this approach may require addressing the steps in a different order or revisiting steps (such as metric selection) multiple times as data are collected. Knowledge of relevant ecological thresholds is important when metrics are selected, because thresholds identify where small changes in an environmental driver produce large responses in the ecosystem. Metrics with thresholds at or just beyond the limits of a system’s range of natural variability can be excellent, since moving beyond the normal range produces a marked change in their values. Alternatively, metrics with thresholds within but near the edge of the range of natural variability can serve as harbingers of potential change. Identifying thresholds also contributes to decisions about selection of assessment points. In particular, if there is a significant resistance to perturbation in an ecosystem, with threshold behavior not occurring until well beyond the historical range of variation, this may provide a scientific basis for shifting an ecological assessment point beyond the historical range. We present two case studies using ongoing monitoring by the US National Park Service Vital Signs program that illustrate the use of an ecological integrity approach to communicate ecosystem status to resource managers. The Wetland Ecological Integrity in Rocky Mountain National Park case study uses an analytical approach that specifically incorporates threshold detection into the process of establishing assessment points. The Forest Ecological Integrity of Northeastern National Parks case study describes a method for reporting ecological integrity to resource managers and other decision makers. We believe our approach has the potential for wide applicability for natural resource management.

Successful Strategies for Earth Science Research in Native Communities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Redsteer, M. H.; Anderson, D.; Ben, N.; Bitsuie, R.; Blackhorse, A.; Breit, G.; Clifford, A.; Salabye, J.; Semken, S.; Weaver, K.; Yazzie, N.

2004-12-01

A small U.S. Geological Survey pilot project utilizes strategies that are successful at involving the Native community in earth science research. This work has ignited the interest of Native students in interdisciplinary geoscience studies, and gained the recognition of tribal community leaders from the conterminous United States, Alaska, and Canada. This study seeks to examine land use, climatic variability, and their related impacts on land-surface conditions in the ecologically sensitive Tsezhin Bii' region of the Navajo Nation. Work conducted by predominantly Native American researchers, includes studies of bedrock geology, surficial processes, soil and water quality, and plant ecology, as well as the history of human habitation. Community involvement that began during the proposal process, has helped to guide research, and has provided tribal members with information that they can use for land use planning and natural resource management. Work by Navajo tribal members who have become involved in research as it has progressed, includes K-12 science curriculum development, community outreach and education on environmental and geologic hazards, drought mitigation, grazing management, and impacts of climate change and land use on medicinal plants.

[Ecological and hygienic problems of nanotech progress].

PubMed

Latyshevskaia, N I; Strekalova, A S

2012-01-01

In article necessity of development of new directions of researches--nanoecology (ecology of nanoindustry) and nanohygiene (hygiene of nanotechnologies and nanomaterials) is proved. On the basis of the spent review key ecological and hygienic problems of nanoindustrial development are systematized and also debatable questions are allocated. The conclusion is drawn on necessity of an intensification of studying of ecological and hygienic aspects of nanotechnologies and nanomaterials.

The dual impact of ecology and management on social incentives in marine common-pool resource systems.

PubMed

Klein, E S; Barbier, M R; Watson, J R

2017-08-01

Understanding how and when cooperative human behaviour forms in common-pool resource systems is critical to illuminating social-ecological systems and designing governance institutions that promote sustainable resource use. Before assessing the full complexity of social dynamics, it is essential to understand, concretely and mechanistically, how resource dynamics and human actions interact to create incentives and pay-offs for social behaviours. Here, we investigated how such incentives for information sharing are affected by spatial dynamics and management in a common-pool resource system. Using interviews with fishermen to inform an agent-based model, we reveal generic mechanisms through which, for a given ecological setting characterized by the spatial dynamics of the resource, the two 'human factors' of information sharing and management may heterogeneously impact various members of a group for whom theory would otherwise predict the same strategy. When users can deplete the resource, these interactions are further affected by the management approach. Finally, we discuss the implications of alternative motivations, such as equity among fishermen and consistency of the fleet's output. Our results indicate that resource spatial dynamics, form of management and level of depletion can interact to alter the sociality of people in common-pool resource systems, providing necessary insight for future study of strategic decision processes.

The Monsoon-90 / SALSA / EOS / SUDMED / SAHRA / HELP / USPP Experience: A Progression of Interdisciplinary Integration of Science and Decision Making over 20 years.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chehbouni, G.; Goodrich, D.; Kustas, B.; Sorooshian, S.; Shuttleworth, J.; Richter, H.

2008-12-01

The Monsoon'90 Experiment conducted at the USDA-ARS Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed in southeast Arizona was the start of a long arc of subsequent experiments and research that were larger, longer-term, more international, more interdisciplinary, and led to more direct integration of science for decision making and watershed management. In this era, much of our research and science must be more directly relevant to decision-makers and natural resource managers as they increasingly require sophisticated levels of expert findings and scientific results (e.g. interdisciplinary) to make informed decisions. Significant effort beyond focused, single disciplinary research is required conduct interdisciplinary science typical in large scale field experiments. Even greater effort is required to effectively integrate our research across the physical and ecological sciences for direct use by policy and decision makers. This presentation will provide an overview of the evolution of this arc of experiments and long-term projects into a mature integrated science and decision making program. It will discuss the transition in project focus from science and research for understanding; through science for addressing a need; to integrated science and policy development. At each stage the research conducted became more interdisciplinary, first across abiotic disciplines (hydrology, remote sensing, atmospheric science), then by merging abiotic and biotic disciplines (adding ecology and plant physiology), and finally a further integration of economic and social sciences with and policy and decision making for resource management. Lessons learned from this experience will be reviewed with the intent providing guidance to ensure that the resulting research is socially and scientifically relevant and will not only result in cutting edge science but will also directly address the needs of policy makers and resource managers.

[Ecological carrying capacity and Chongming Island's ecological construction].

PubMed

Wang, Kaiyun; Zou, Chunjing; Kong, Zhenghong; Wang, Tianhou; Chen, Xiaoyong

2005-12-01

This paper overviewed the goals of Chongming Island's ecological construction and its background, analyzed the current eco-economic status and constraints of the Island, and put forward some scientific issues on its ecological construction. It was suggested that for the resources-saving and sustainable development of the Island, the researches on its ecological construction should be based on its ecological carrying capacity, fully take the regional characteristics into consideration, and refer the successful development modes at home and abroad. The carrying capacity study should ground on systemic and dynamic views, give a thorough evaluation of the Island's present carrying capacity, simulate its possible changes, and forecast its demands and risks. Operable countermeasures to promote the Island's carrying capacity should be worked out, new industry structure, population scale, and optimized distribution projects conforming to regional carrying capacity should be formulated, and effective ecological security alarming and control system should be built, with the aim of providing suggestions and strategic evidences for the decision-making of economic development and sustainable environmental resources use of the region.

Balancing Conservation with National Development: A Socio-Economic Case Study of the Alternatives to the Serengeti Road.

PubMed

Hopcraft, J Grant C; Bigurube, Gerald; Lembeli, James Daudi; Borner, Markus

2015-01-01

Developing countries often have rich natural resources but poor infrastructure to capitalize on them, which leads to significant challenges in terms of balancing poverty alleviation with conservation. The underlying premise in development strategies is to increase the socio-economic welfare of the people while simultaneously ensuring environmental sustainability, however these objectives are often in direct conflict. National progress is dependent on developing infrastructure such as effective transportation networks, however roads can be ecologically catastrophic in terms of disrupting habitat connectivity and facilitating illegal activity. How can national development and conservation be balanced? The proposed Serengeti road epitomizes the conflict between poverty alleviation on one hand, and the conservation of a critical ecosystem on the other. We use the Serengeti as an exemplar case-study in which the relative economic and social benefits of a road can be assessed against the ecological impacts. Specifically, we compare three possible transportation routes and ask which route maximizes the socio-economic returns for the people while minimizing the ecological costs. The findings suggest that one route in particular that circumnavigates the Serengeti links the greatest number of small and medium sized entrepreneurial businesses to the largest labour force in the region. Furthermore, this route connects the most children to schools, provisions the greatest access to hospitals, and opens the most fertile crop and livestock production areas, and does not compromise the ecology and tourism revenue of the Serengeti. This route would improve Tanzania's food security and self-reliance and would facilitate future infrastructure development which would not be possible if the road were to pass through the Serengeti. This case study provides a compelling example of how a detailed spatial analysis can balance the national objectives of poverty alleviation while maintaining ecological integrity.

Balancing Conservation with National Development: A Socio-Economic Case Study of the Alternatives to the Serengeti Road

PubMed Central

Hopcraft, J. Grant C.; Bigurube, Gerald; Lembeli, James Daudi; Borner, Markus

2015-01-01

Developing countries often have rich natural resources but poor infrastructure to capitalize on them, which leads to significant challenges in terms of balancing poverty alleviation with conservation. The underlying premise in development strategies is to increase the socio-economic welfare of the people while simultaneously ensuring environmental sustainability, however these objectives are often in direct conflict. National progress is dependent on developing infrastructure such as effective transportation networks, however roads can be ecologically catastrophic in terms of disrupting habitat connectivity and facilitating illegal activity. How can national development and conservation be balanced? The proposed Serengeti road epitomizes the conflict between poverty alleviation on one hand, and the conservation of a critical ecosystem on the other. We use the Serengeti as an exemplar case-study in which the relative economic and social benefits of a road can be assessed against the ecological impacts. Specifically, we compare three possible transportation routes and ask which route maximizes the socio-economic returns for the people while minimizing the ecological costs. The findings suggest that one route in particular that circumnavigates the Serengeti links the greatest number of small and medium sized entrepreneurial businesses to the largest labour force in the region. Furthermore, this route connects the most children to schools, provisions the greatest access to hospitals, and opens the most fertile crop and livestock production areas, and does not compromise the ecology and tourism revenue of the Serengeti. This route would improve Tanzania’s food security and self-reliance and would facilitate future infrastructure development which would not be possible if the road were to pass through the Serengeti. This case study provides a compelling example of how a detailed spatial analysis can balance the national objectives of poverty alleviation while maintaining ecological integrity. PMID:26200107

[Impacts of cross-habitat resource subsidies on ecosystems: A review.

PubMed

Zhang, Yi Xin; Xiang, Hong Yong

2017-02-01

The flux of matter, energy and nutrients across ecosystems, i.e., resource subsidy, is a fundamental attribute of ecosystems, as well as one of basic research questions in ecology. Common subsidies include leaf litter and terrestrial insects that fall into waters, the adults of aquatic insects, spawning salmon. The allocthonous input of resource subsidy can influence individual organisms, populations, communities, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, such as enhancing individual growth, increasing species abundance and diversity, affecting community structure, enhancing secondary productivity, influencing food-chain length and food web. Due to increased human impacts on environments, especially at aspects of land use, climate change and invasive species, the influence of anthropogenic disturbance on cross-ecosystem resource subsidies will be intensified at both spacial and temporary scales, so that ecosystems will face severer threats. Accordingly, future ecological researches in this field should emphasize the following aspects: impacts of single and multiple stressors on subsidies and ecosystems, implementation of dynamic resource subsidies on ecosystem restoration and management, the dark sides of subsidy relating with pollutants, and basic ecological research on cross-ecosystem resource subsidy in tropics and sub-tropics, as well in China.

Origins of altruism diversity I: The diverse ecological roles of altruistic strategies and their evolutionary responses to local competition

PubMed Central

Van Dyken, J. David; Wade, Michael J.

2012-01-01

Nature abounds with a rich variety of altruistic strategies, including public resource enhancement, resource provisioning, communal foraging, alarm calling, and nest defense. Yet, despite their vastly different ecological roles, current theory typically treats diverse altruistic traits as being favored under the same general conditions. Here we introduce greater ecological realism into social evolution theory and find evidence of at least four distinct modes of altruism. Contrary to existing theory, we find that altruistic traits contributing to “resource-enhancement” (e.g., siderophore production, provisioning, agriculture) and “resource-efficiency” (e.g., pack hunting, communication) are most strongly favored when there is strong local competition. These resource-based modes of helping are “K-strategies” that increase a social group’s growth yield, and should characterize species with scarce resources and/or high local crowding caused by low mortality, high fecundity, and/or mortality occurring late in the process of resource-acquisition. The opposite conditions, namely weak local competition (abundant resource, low crowding), favor survival (e.g., nest defense) and fecundity (e.g., nurse workers) altruism, which are “r-strategies” that increase a social group’s growth rate. We find that survival altruism is uniquely favored by a novel evolutionary force that we call “sunk cost selection”. Sunk cost selection favors helping that prevents resources from being wasted on individuals destined to die before reproduction. Our results contribute to explaining the observed natural diversity of altruistic strategies, reveal the necessary connection between the evolution and the ecology of sociality, and correct the widespread but inaccurate view that local competition uniformly impedes the evolution of altruism. PMID:22834747

Origins of altruism diversity I: The diverse ecological roles of altruistic strategies and their evolutionary responses to local competition.

PubMed

Van Dyken, J David; Wade, Michael J

2012-08-01

Nature abounds with a rich variety of altruistic strategies, including public resource enhancement, resource provisioning, communal foraging, alarm calling, and nest defense. Yet, despite their vastly different ecological roles, current theory typically treats diverse altruistic traits as being favored under the same general conditions. Here, we introduce greater ecological realism into social evolution theory and find evidence of at least four distinct modes of altruism. Contrary to existing theory, we find that altruistic traits contributing to "resource-enhancement" (e.g., siderophore production, provisioning, agriculture) and "resource-efficiency" (e.g., pack hunting, communication) are most strongly favored when there is strong local competition. These resource-based modes of helping are "K-strategies" that increase a social group's growth yield, and should characterize species with scarce resources and/or high local crowding caused by low mortality, high fecundity, and/or mortality occurring late in the process of resource-acquisition. The opposite conditions, namely weak local competition (abundant resource, low crowding), favor survival (e.g., nest defense) and fecundity (e.g., nurse workers) altruism, which are "r-strategies" that increase a social group's growth rate. We find that survival altruism is uniquely favored by a novel evolutionary force that we call "sunk cost selection." Sunk cost selection favors helping that prevents resources from being wasted on individuals destined to die before reproduction. Our results contribute to explaining the observed natural diversity of altruistic strategies, reveal the necessary connection between the evolution and the ecology of sociality, and correct the widespread but inaccurate view that local competition uniformly impedes the evolution of altruism. © 2012 The Author(s). Evolution© 2012 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Caspar Creek project stream ecology phase progress report, July 1, 1965 - June 30, 1966

Treesearch

Richard L. Ridenhour

1966-01-01

A preliminary progress report of the research on the stream ecology of Caspar Creek by Humboldt State College was submitted by Dr. John DeWitt in December,1965, (DeWitt 1965). Further analyses of data collected during the summer of 1965 allows a more complete report to be made at this time. Although the contract was for the period July 1, 1965 to June 30, 1966, field...

Olympic Fisher Reintroduction Project: Progress report 2008-2011

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jeffrey C. Lewis,; Patti J. Happe,; Jenkins, Kurt J.; Manson, David J.

2012-01-01

This progress report summarizes the final year of activities of Phase I of the Olympic fisher restoration project. The intent of the Olympic fisher reintroduction project is to reestablish a self-sustaining population of fishers on the Olympic Peninsula. To achieve this goal, the Olympic fisher reintroduction project released 90 fishers within Olympic National Park from 2008 to 2010. The reintroduction of fishers to the Olympic Peninsula was designed as an adaptive management project, including the monitoring of released fishers as a means to (1) evaluate reintroduction success, (2) investigate key biological and ecological traits of fishers, and (3) inform future reintroduction, monitoring, and research efforts. This report summarizes reintroduction activities and preliminary research and monitoring results completed through December 2011. The report is non-interpretational in nature. Although we report the status of movement, survival, and home range components of the research, we have not completed final analyses and interpretation of research results. Much of the data collected during the monitoring and research project will be analyzed and interpreted in the doctoral dissertation being developed by Jeff Lewis; the completion of this dissertation is anticipated prior to April 2013. We anticipate that this work, and analyses of other data collected during the project, will result in several peer-reviewed scientific publications in ecological and conservation journals, which collectively will comprise the final reporting of work summarized here. These publications will include papers addressing post-release movements, survival, resource selection, food habits, and age determination of fishers.

A regional-scale ecological risk framework for environmental flow evaluations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Brien, Gordon C.; Dickens, Chris; Hines, Eleanor; Wepener, Victor; Stassen, Retha; Quayle, Leo; Fouchy, Kelly; MacKenzie, James; Graham, P. Mark; Landis, Wayne G.

2018-02-01

Environmental flow (E-flow) frameworks advocate holistic, regional-scale, probabilistic E-flow assessments that consider flow and non-flow drivers of change in a socio-ecological context as best practice. Regional-scale ecological risk assessments of multiple stressors to social and ecological endpoints, which address ecosystem dynamism, have been undertaken internationally at different spatial scales using the relative-risk model since the mid-1990s. With the recent incorporation of Bayesian belief networks into the relative-risk model, a robust regional-scale ecological risk assessment approach is available that can contribute to achieving the best practice recommendations of E-flow frameworks. PROBFLO is a holistic E-flow assessment method that incorporates the relative-risk model and Bayesian belief networks (BN-RRM) into a transparent probabilistic modelling tool that addresses uncertainty explicitly. PROBFLO has been developed to evaluate the socio-ecological consequences of historical, current and future water resource use scenarios and generate E-flow requirements on regional spatial scales. The approach has been implemented in two regional-scale case studies in Africa where its flexibility and functionality has been demonstrated. In both case studies the evidence-based outcomes facilitated informed environmental management decision making, with trade-off considerations in the context of social and ecological aspirations. This paper presents the PROBFLO approach as applied to the Senqu River catchment in Lesotho and further developments and application in the Mara River catchment in Kenya and Tanzania. The 10 BN-RRM procedural steps incorporated in PROBFLO are demonstrated with examples from both case studies. PROBFLO can contribute to the adaptive management of water resources and contribute to the allocation of resources for sustainable use of resources and address protection requirements.

76 FR 18780 - Integrated Water Resource Management Plan, Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project, Benton...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-05

... Enhancement Project. The Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) will be a joint lead agency with..., most of these water right uncertainties have been addressed. In 2003, Reclamation and Ecology initiated... with comments on the Draft PR/EIS prompted Ecology to separate from the National Environmental Policy...

Language Program as Ecology: A Perspective for Leadership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pennington, Martha C.; Hoekje, Barbara J.

2010-01-01

A language program is a delicate and intricate system of interacting resources or components, which, like a biological ecology, is in a constant state of evolution and change. The interactive system making up the program's internal culture is connected ecologically to the external environment. The ecological model is introduced as a useful…

Ecological type classification for California: the Forest Service approach

Treesearch

Barbara H. Allen

1987-01-01

National legislation has mandated the development and use of an ecological data base to improve resource decision making, while State and Federal agencies have agreed to cooperate in standardizing resource classification and inventory data. In the Pacific Southwest Region, which includes nearly 20 million acres (8.3 million ha) in California, the Forest Service, U.S....

Plant Galls and Ecological Concepts: A Multidisciplinary Outdoor Education Teaching Resource Packet.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matthews, Bruce; And Others

Designed for adaptation in primary through high school classes, the lessons in this resource packet use the development of plant galls (plant growths caused by irritation of the plant tissue) as a focus for outdoor education studies and activities. Emphasis is on science and ecology, though other disciplines are represented. Illustrations and…

The Nexus Between Ecological Risk Assessment and Natural Resources Damage Assessment Under CERCLA: Introduction to a Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Techincal Workshop

EPA Science Inventory

A SETAC Technical Workshop titled “The Nexus Between Ecological Risk Assessment and Natural Resource Damage Assessment Under CERCLA: Understanding and Improving the Common Scientific Underpinnings,” was held 18–22 August 2008 in Gregson, Montana, USA, to examine the linkage, nexu...

The forest ecosystem of southeast Alaska: 7. Forest ecology and timber management.

Treesearch

Arland S. Harris; Wilbur A. Farr

1974-01-01

Large-scale use of the timber resource of southeast Alaska began in 1953 after long efforts to establish a timber industry. Development and present status of the industry and present management of the timber resource are summarized, stressing the biological basis for timber management activities in southeast Alaska today. Ecological and silvicultural considerations...

Water Quality and Pollution. Environmental Studies. 4 Color Transparencies, Reproducibles & Teaching Guide. Grade 3, 4, 5.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ortleb, Edward P.; And Others

The world is faced with a variety of environmental problems. No country has escaped pollution and resource depletion. Basic ecological principles are often ignored and sometimes this contributes to ecological disasters. This volume is designed to provide basic information about the quality of the earth's water resources. The visual aids,…

Ecologia: Spanish Ecology Packet Resource Units and Materials for Intermediate and Advanced Spanish Classes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bell, Mozelle Sawyer; Arribas, E. Jaime

This Spanish ecology packet contains resource units and materials for intermediate and advanced Spanish classes. It is designed to be used for individual and small-group instruction in the senior high school to supplement the Spanish language curriculum. Included are articles, pictures, and cartoons from Spanish-language newspapers and magazines…

Energy and the Environment. Environmental Studies. 4 Color Transparencies, Reproducibles & Teaching Guide. Grade 3, 4, 5.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ortleb, Edward P.; And Others

The world is faced with a variety of environmental problems. No country has escaped pollution and resource depletion. Basic ecological principles are often ignored and sometimes this contributes to ecological disasters. This volume is designed to provide basic information about the quality of the earth's energy resources. The visual aids,…

Changing resource management paradigms, traditional ecological knowledge, and non-timber forest products

Treesearch

Iain J. Davidson-Hunt; Fikret Berkes

2001-01-01

We begin this paper by exploring the shift now occurring in the science that provides the theoretical basis for resource management practice. The concepts of traditional ecological knowledge and traditional management systems are presented next to provide the background for an examination of resilient landscapes that emerge through the work and play of humans. These...

Species-specific variation in nesting and postfledging resource selection for two forest breeding migrant songbirds

Treesearch

Julianna M. A. Jenkins; Frank R. Thompson; John Faaborg; Andrew J. Kroll

2017-01-01

Habitat selection is a fundamental component of community ecology, population ecology, and evolutionary biology and can be especially important to species with complex annual habitat requirements, such as migratory birds. Resource preferences on the breeding grounds may change during the postfledging period for migrant songbirds, however, the degree to which selection...

Preliminary study of PCBs in raccoons living on or near the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Kentucky

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

Halbrook, Richard S.

2016-01-15

The “Ecological Monitoring at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant: Historical Evaluation and Guidelines for Future Monitoring” report (Halbrook, et al. 2007) recommended the raccoon as a species for study at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP). This species was selected to fill data gaps in ecological resources and provide resource managers with knowledge that will be valuable in making decisions and implementing specific actions to safeguard ecological resources and reduce human exposure. The current paper reports results of a preliminary evaluation to establish protocols for collection of tissues and initial screening of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in raccoons collected near themore » PGDP. These data are useful in developing future more comprehensive studies.« less

Toward A Science of Sustainable Water Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brown, C.

2016-12-01

Societal need for improved water management and concerns for the long-term sustainability of water resources systems are prominent around the world. The continued susceptibility of society to the harmful effects of hydrologic variability, pervasive concerns related to climate change and the emergent awareness of devastating effects of current practice on aquatic ecosystems all illustrate our limited understanding of how water ought to be managed in a dynamic world. The related challenges of resolving the competition for freshwater among competing uses (so called "nexus" issues) and adapting water resources systems to climate change are prominent examples of the of sustainable water management challenges. In addition, largely untested concepts such as "integrated water resources management" have surfaced as Sustainable Development Goals. In this presentation, we argue that for research to improve water management, and for practice to inspire better research, a new focus is required, one that bridges disciplinary barriers between the water resources research focus on infrastructure planning and management, and the role of human actors, and geophysical sciences community focus on physical processes in the absence of dynamical human response. Examples drawn from climate change adaptation for water resource systems and groundwater management policy provide evidence of initial progress towards a science of sustainable water management that links improved physical understanding of the hydrological cycle with the socioeconomic and ecological understanding of water and societal interactions.

An ecological compensation standard based on emergy theory for the Xiao Honghe River Basin.

PubMed

Guan, Xinjian; Chen, Moyu; Hu, Caihong

2015-01-01

The calculation of an ecological compensation standard is an important, but also difficult aspect of current ecological compensation research. In this paper, the factors affecting the ecological-economic system in the Xiao Honghe River Basin, China, including the flow of energy, materials, and money, were calculated using the emergy analysis method. A consideration of the relationships between the ecological-economic value of water resources and ecological compensation allowed the ecological-economic value to be calculated. On this basis, the amount of water needed for dilution was used to develop a calculation model for the ecological compensation standard of the basin. Using the Xiao Honghe River Basin as an example, the value of water resources and the ecological compensation standard were calculated using this model according to the emission levels of the main pollutant in the basin, chemical oxygen demand. The compensation standards calculated for the research areas in Xipin, Shangcai, Pingyu, and Xincai were 34.91 yuan/m3, 32.97 yuan/m3, 35.99 yuan/m3, and 34.70 yuan/m3, respectively, and such research output would help to generate and support new approaches to the long-term ecological protection of the basin and improvement of the ecological compensation system.

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, annual technical progress report of ecological research for the year ending June 30, 1998

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

Wein, G.; Rosier, B.

1998-12-31

This report provides an overview of the research programs and program components carried out by the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. Research focused on the following: advanced analytical and spectroscopic techniques for developing novel waste isolation and stabilization technologies as well as cost-effective remediation strategies; ecologically sound management of damaged and remediation of ecological systems; ecotoxicology, remediation, and risk assessment; radioecology, including dose assessments for plants and animals exposed to environmental radiation; and other research support programs.

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, annual technical progress report of ecological research for the year ending June 30, 1997

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

Wein, G.; Rosier, B.

1997-12-31

This report provides an overview of the research programs and program components carried out by the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. Research focused on the following: advanced analytical and spectroscopic techniques for developing novel waste isolation and stabilization technologies as well as cost-effective remediation strategies; ecologically sound management of damaged and remediation of ecological systems; ecotoxicology, remediation, and risk assessment; radioecology, including dose assessments for plants and animals exposed to environmental radiation; and other research support programs.

Sunflower genetic, genomic, and ecological resources

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Long a major focus of genetic research and breeding, sunflowers (Helianthus) are emerging as an increasingly important experimental system for ecological and evolutionary studies. Here we review the various attributes of wild and domesticated sunflowers that make them valuable for ecological experim...

Ecological drought: Accounting for the non-human impacts of water shortage in the Upper Missouri Headwaters Basin, Montana, USA

USGS Publications Warehouse

McEvoy, Jamie; Bathke, Deborah J.; Burkardt, Nina; Cravens, Amanda; Haigh, Tonya; Hall, Kimberly R.; Hayes, Michael J.; Jedd, Theresa; Podebradska, Marketa; Wickham, Elliot

2018-01-01

Water laws and drought plans are used to prioritize and allocate scarce water resources. Both have historically been human-centric, failing to account for non-human water needs. In this paper, we examine the development of instream flow legislation and the evolution of drought planning to highlight the growing concern for the non-human impacts of water scarcity. Utilizing a new framework for ecological drought, we analyzed five watershed-scale drought plans in southwestern Montana, USA to understand if, and how, the ecological impacts of drought are currently being assessed. We found that while these plans do account for some ecological impacts, it is primarily through the narrow lens of impacts to fish as measured by water temperature and streamflow. The latter is typically based on the same ecological principles used to determine instream flow requirements. We also found that other resource plans in the same watersheds (e.g., Watershed Restoration Plans, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Watershed Assessments or United States Forest Service (USFS) Forest Plans) identify a broader range of ecological drought risks. Given limited resources and the potential for mutual benefits and synergies, we suggest greater integration between various planning processes could result in a more holistic consideration of water needs and uses across the landscape.

Integrating long-term stewardship goals into the remediation process: natural resource damages and the Department of Energy.

PubMed

Burger, Joanna; Gochfeld, Michael; Powers, Charles W

2007-01-01

The United States and other developed countries are faced with restoring and managing degraded ecosystems. Evaluations of the degradation of ecological resources can be used for determining ecological risk, making remediation or restoration decisions, aiding stakeholders with future land use decisions, and assessing natural resource damages. Department of Energy (DOE) lands provide a useful case study for examining degradation of ecological resources in light of past or present land uses and natural resource damage assessment (NRDA). We suggest that past site history should be incorporated into the cleanup and restoration phase to reduce the ultimate NRDA costs, and hasten resource recovery. The lands that DOE purchased over 50 years ago ranged from relatively undisturbed to heavily impacted farmland, and the impact that occurred from DOE occupation varies from regeneration of natural ecosystems (benefits) to increased exposure to several stressors (negative effects). During the time of the DOE releases, other changes occurred on the lands, including recovery from the disturbance effects of farming, grazing, and residential occupation, and the cessation of human disturbance. Thus, the injury to natural resources that occurred as a result of chemical and radiological releases occurred on top of recovery of already degraded systems. Both spatial (size and dispersion of patch types) and temporal (past/present/future land use and ecological condition) components are critical aspects of resource evaluation, restoration, and NRDA. For many DOE sites, integrating natural resource restoration with remediation to reduce or eliminate the need for NRDA could be a win-win situation for both responsible parties and natural resource trustees by eliminating costly NRDAs by both sides, and by restoring natural resources to a level that satisfies the trustees, while being cost-effective for the responsible parties. It requires integration of remediation, restoration, and end-state planning to a greater degree than is currently done at most DOE sites.

Ecological Footprint in relation to Climate Change Strategy in Cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belčáková, Ingrid; Diviaková, Andrea; Belaňová, Eliška

2017-10-01

Ecological footprint determines how much natural resources are consumed by an individual, city, region, state or all inhabitants of our planet in order to ensure their requirements and needs. It includes all activities, from food consumption, housing, transport to waste produced and allows us to compare particular activities and their impacts on the environment and natural resources. Ecological footprint is important issue for making sustainable development concept more popular using simplifications, which provide the public with basic information on situation on our planet. Today we know calculations of global (worldwide), national and local ecological footprints. During our research in cities, we were concentrated on calculation of city’s ecological footprint. The article tries to outline theoretical and assumptions and practical results of climate change consequences in cities of Bratislava and Nitra (Slovakia), to describe potential of mitigating adverse impacts of climate change and to provide information for general and professional public on theoretical assumptions in calculating ecological footprint. The intention is to present innovation of ecological footprint calculation, taking into consideration ecological stability of a city (with a specific focus on micro-climate functions of green areas). Present possibilities to reduce ecological footprint are presented.

Forbidden fruit: human settlement and abundant fruit create an ecological trap for an apex omnivore.

PubMed

Lamb, Clayton T; Mowat, Garth; McLellan, Bruce N; Nielsen, Scott E; Boutin, Stan

2017-01-01

Habitat choice is an evolutionary product of animals experiencing increased fitness when preferentially occupying high-quality habitat. However, an ecological trap (ET) can occur when an animal is presented with novel conditions and the animal's assessment of habitat quality is poorly matched to its resulting fitness. We tested for an ET for grizzly (brown) bears using demographic and movement data collected in an area with rich food resources and concentrated human settlement. We derived measures of habitat attractiveness from occurrence models of bear food resources and estimated demographic parameters using DNA mark-recapture information collected over 8 years (2006-2013). We then paired this information with grizzly bear mortality records to investigate kill and movement rates. Our results demonstrate that a valley high in both berry resources and human density was more attractive than surrounding areas, and bears occupying this region faced 17% lower apparent survival. Despite lower fitness, we detected a net flow of bears into the ET, which contributed to a study-wide population decline. This work highlights the presence and pervasiveness of an ET for an apex omnivore that lacks the evolutionary cues, under human-induced rapid ecological change, to assess trade-offs between food resources and human-caused mortality, which results in maladaptive habitat selection. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.

Social-ecological resilience and law in the Platte River Basin

USGS Publications Warehouse

Birge, Hannah E.; Allen, Craig R.; Craig, Robin; Garmestani, Ahjond S.; Hamm, Joseph A.; Babbitt, Christina; Nemec, Kristine T.; Schlager, Edella

2014-01-01

Efficiency and resistance to rapid change are hallmarks of both the judicial and legislative branches of the United States government. These defining characteristics, while bringing stability and predictability, pose challenges when it comes to managing dynamic natural systems. As our understanding of ecosystems improves, we must devise ways to account for the non-linearities and uncertainties rife in complex social-ecological systems. This paper takes an in-depth look at the Platte River basin over time to explore how the system's resilience—the capacity to absorb disturbance without losing defining structures and functions—responds to human driven change. Beginning with pre-European settlement, the paper explores how water laws, policies, and infrastructure influenced the region's ecology and society. While much of the post-European development in the Platte River basin came at a high ecological cost to the system, the recent tri-state and federal collaborative Platte River Recovery and Implementation Program is a first step towards flexible and adaptive management of the social-ecological system. Using the Platte River basin as an example, we make the case that inherent flexibility and adaptability are vital for the next iteration of natural resources management policies affecting stressed basins. We argue that this can be accomplished by nesting policy in a resilience framework, which we describe and attempt to operationalize for use across systems and at different levels of jurisdiction. As our current natural resources policies fail under the weight of looming global change, unprecedented demand for natural resources, and shifting land use, the need for a new generation of adaptive, flexible natural resources govern-ance emerges. Here we offer a prescription for just that, rooted in the social , ecological and political realities of the Platte River basin. Social-Ecological Resilience and Law in the Platte River Basin (PDF Download Available). Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273678974_Social-Ecological_Resilience_and_Law_in_the_Platte_River_Basin [accessed Oct 18 2017].

Molecular Genetics of Beauveria bassiana Infection of Insects.

PubMed

Ortiz-Urquiza, A; Keyhani, N O

2016-01-01

Research on the insect pathogenic filamentous fungus, Beauveria bassiana has witnessed significant growth in recent years from mainly physiological studies related to its insect biological control potential, to addressing fundamental questions regarding the underlying molecular mechanisms of fungal development and virulence. This has been in part due to a confluence of robust genetic tools and genomic resources for the fungus, and recognition of expanded ecological interactions with which the fungus engages. Beauveria bassiana is a broad host range insect pathogen that has the ability to form intimate symbiotic relationships with plants. Indeed, there is an increasing realization that the latter may be the predominant environmental interaction in which the fungus participates, and that insect parasitism may be an opportunist lifestyle evolved due to the carbon- and nitrogen-rich resources present in insect bodies. Here, we will review progress on the molecular genetics of B. bassiana, which has largely been directed toward identifying genetic pathways involved in stress response and virulence assumed to have practical applications in improving the insect control potential of the fungus. Important strides have also been made in understanding aspects of B. bassiana development. Finally, although increasingly apparent in a number of studies, there is a need for progressing beyond phenotypic mutant characterization to sufficiently investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying B. bassiana's unique and diverse lifestyles as saprophyte, insect pathogen, and plant mutualist. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Survey of ecological resources at selected US Department of Energy sites

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

McAllister, C.; Beckert, H.; Abrams, C.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) owns and manages a wide range of ecological resources. During the next 30 years, DOE Headquarters and Field Offices will make land-use planning decisions and conduct environmental remediation and restoration activities in response to federal and state statutes. This document fulfills, in part, DOE`s need to know what types of ecological resources it currently owns and manages by synthesizing information on the types and locations of ecological resources at 10 DOE sites: Hanford Site, Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratory, Rocky Flats Plant, Los Alamos National Laboratory, savannah Rivermore » Site, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, and Fernald Environmental Management Project. This report summarizes information on ecosystems, habitats, and federally listed threatened, endangered, and candidate species that could be stressed by contaminants or physical activity during the restoration process, or by the natural or anthropogenic transport of contaminants from presently contaminated areas into presently uncontaminated areas. This report also provides summary information on the ecosystems, habitats, and threatened and endangered species that exist on each of the 10 sites. Each site chapter contains a general description of the site, including information on size, location, history, geology, hydrology, and climate. Descriptions of the major vegetation and animal communities and of aquatic resources are also provided, with discussions of the treatened or endangered plant or animal species present. Site-specific ecological issues are also discussed in each site chapter. 106 refs., 11 figs., 1 tab.« less

Genomic Diversity and the Microenvironment as Drivers of Progression in DCIS

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-10-01

progress to invasive breast cancer. We have applied for and received ethical approval to carry out the study at our primary site, and have completed a...cancer, and the application of ecological and other spatial statistics to those images 1-4. 24 Month Milestones: 3 • IHC staining of candidate...Athena Aktipis and Yinyin Yuan: An ecological measure of immune-cancer colocalization as a prognostic factor for breast cancer. Under review at Breast

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

NONE

This paper responds to the Development Committee Communique of April 2006 requesting the World Bank to review existing financial instruments and explore the potential value of new financial instruments to accelerate investment in clean energy. It builds on the report 'Clean Energy and Development: Towards an Investment Framework' that was presented to the Development Committee at the April 2006 Spring Meeting and concludes: The major financing gap for the energy for development and energy access agendas can be met by deepening and broadening energy sector policy reform to attract private sector investments and additional public sector financing. A long-term stablemore » global regulatory framework, with differentiated responsibilities, is needed to stimulate private investments and provide predictability. The Bank proposes the development of a number of options to accelerate the transition to a low carbon economy. Risks of weather-related disasters need to be integrated into poverty and sustainable development strategies with a combination of public and private sector resources. Clean energy will address the following issues that affect poor people and undermine progress on many of the Millennium Development Goals: Pollution at the household level, especially indoor air pollution, which adversely affects human health; Environmental impacts at the local, national and regional level, including urban air pollution and acid deposition, which affects human health and ecological systems; and The adverse impacts of greenhouse gas emissions from the production of energy on agricultural productivity, water resources, human health, human settlements and ecological systems. 11 figs., 2 tabs., 2 annexes.« less

Herbivores sculpt leaf traits differently in grasslands depending on life form and land-use histories.

PubMed

Firn, Jennifer; Schütz, Martin; Nguyen, Huong; Risch, Anita C

2017-01-01

Vertebrate and invertebrate herbivores alter plant communities directly by selectively consuming plant species; and indirectly by inducing morphological and physiological changes to plant traits that provide competitive or survivorship advantages to some life forms over others. Progressively excluding aboveground herbivore communities (ungulates, medium and small sized mammals, invertebrates) over five growing seasons, we explored how leaf morphology (specific leaf area or SLA) and nutrition (nitrogen, carbon, phosphorous, potassium, sodium, and calcium) of different plant life forms (forbs, legumes, grasses, sedges) correlated with their dominance. We experimented in two subalpine grassland types with different land-use histories: (1) heavily grazed, nutrient-rich, short-grass vegetation and (2) lightly grazed, lower nutrient tall-grass vegetation. We found differences in leaf traits between treatments where either all herbivores were excluded or all herbivores were present, showing the importance of considering the impacts of both vertebrates and invertebrates on the leaf traits of plant species. Life forms responses to the progressive exclusion of herbivores were captured by six possible combinations: (1) increased leaf size and resource use efficiency (leaf area/nutrients) where lower nutrient levels are invested in leaf construction, but a reduction in the number of leaves, for example, forbs in both vegetation types, (2) increased leaf size and resource use efficiency, for example, legumes in short grass, (3) increased leaf size but a reduction in the number of leaves, for example, legumes in the tall grass, (4) increased number of leaves produced and increased resource use efficiency, for example, grasses in the short grass, (5) increased resource use efficiency of leaves only, for example, grasses and sedges in the tall grass, and (6) no response in terms of leaf construction or dominance, for example, sedges in the short grass. Although we found multiple possible responses by life forms to progressive exclusion of herbivores, we also found some important generalities. Changes in leaf traits of legumes and grasses correlated with their increasing dominance in the short-grass vegetation and plants were more efficient at constructing photosynthetic tissue when herbivores are present with few exceptions. These results demonstrate that vertebrate and invertebrate herbivores are essential to maintain plant species richness and resource-use efficiency. © 2016 by the Ecological Society of America.

What determines social capital in a social-ecological system? Insights from a network perspective.

PubMed

Barnes-Mauthe, Michele; Gray, Steven Allen; Arita, Shawn; Lynham, John; Leung, PingSun

2015-02-01

Social capital is an important resource that can be mobilized for purposive action or competitive gain. The distribution of social capital in social-ecological systems can determine who is more productive at extracting ecological resources and who emerges as influential in guiding their management, thereby empowering some while disempowering others. Despite its importance, the factors that contribute to variation in social capital among individuals have not been widely studied. We adopt a network perspective to examine what determines social capital among individuals in social-ecological systems. We begin by identifying network measures of social capital relevant for individuals in this context, and review existing evidence concerning their determinants. Using a complete social network dataset from Hawaii's longline fishery, we employ social network analysis and other statistical methods to empirically estimate these measures and determine the extent to which individual stakeholder attributes explain variation within them. We find that ethnicity is the strongest predictor of social capital. Measures of human capital (i.e., education, experience), years living in the community, and information-sharing attitudes are also important. Surprisingly, we find that when controlling for other factors, industry leaders and formal fishery representatives are generally not well connected. Our results offer new quantitative insights on the relationship between stakeholder diversity, social networks, and social capital in a coupled social-ecological system, which can aid in identifying barriers and opportunities for action to overcome resource management problems. Our results also have implications for achieving resource governance that is not only ecologically and economically sustainable, but also equitable.

What Determines Social Capital in a Social-Ecological System? Insights from a Network Perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barnes-Mauthe, Michele; Gray, Steven Allen; Arita, Shawn; Lynham, John; Leung, PingSun

2015-02-01

Social capital is an important resource that can be mobilized for purposive action or competitive gain. The distribution of social capital in social-ecological systems can determine who is more productive at extracting ecological resources and who emerges as influential in guiding their management, thereby empowering some while disempowering others. Despite its importance, the factors that contribute to variation in social capital among individuals have not been widely studied. We adopt a network perspective to examine what determines social capital among individuals in social-ecological systems. We begin by identifying network measures of social capital relevant for individuals in this context, and review existing evidence concerning their determinants. Using a complete social network dataset from Hawaii's longline fishery, we employ social network analysis and other statistical methods to empirically estimate these measures and determine the extent to which individual stakeholder attributes explain variation within them. We find that ethnicity is the strongest predictor of social capital. Measures of human capital (i.e., education, experience), years living in the community, and information-sharing attitudes are also important. Surprisingly, we find that when controlling for other factors, industry leaders and formal fishery representatives are generally not well connected. Our results offer new quantitative insights on the relationship between stakeholder diversity, social networks, and social capital in a coupled social-ecological system, which can aid in identifying barriers and opportunities for action to overcome resource management problems. Our results also have implications for achieving resource governance that is not only ecologically and economically sustainable, but also equitable.

36 CFR 219.20 - Ecological sustainability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... PLANNING National Forest System Land and Resource Management Planning Ecological, Social, and Economic..., as appropriate, assessments of the risks to species viability and the identification of ecological conditions needed to maintain species viability over time based on the following: (A) The viability of each...

36 CFR 219.20 - Ecological sustainability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... PLANNING National Forest System Land and Resource Management Planning Ecological, Social, and Economic..., as appropriate, assessments of the risks to species viability and the identification of ecological conditions needed to maintain species viability over time based on the following: (A) The viability of each...

Umweltverschmutzung. German Ecology Packet: Resource Units and Materials for German Classes at All Levels.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Archer, Julie; And Others

Supplementary resource materials for use in upper level secondary school German classes are presented in this text. Teachers who are seeking new content and are willing to adapt these instructional materials on ecology in Germany will find three self-contained units on: The Plight of the Polar Bear, Polluted Swimming Pools in Germany, and Dead…

NetMap: a new tool in support of watershed science and resource management.

Treesearch

L. Benda; D. Miller; K. Andras; P. Bigelow; G. Reeves; D. Michael

2007-01-01

In this paper, we show how application of principles of river ecology can guide use of a comprehensive terrain database within geographic information system (GIS) to facilitate watershed analysis relevant to natural resource management. We present a unique arrangement of a terrain database, GIS, and principles of riverine ecology for the purpose of advancing watershed...

Progress in understanding the ecology and detection of Sirex noctilio

Treesearch

Matthew P. Ayres; Jenna M. Sullivan; Tina Harrison; Kelley E. Zylstra; Kevin J. Dodds; Jeffrey R. Garnas; Victor C. Mastro; Maria J. Lombardero

2011-01-01

We have been developing techniques for detecting the presence of Sirex noctilio and studying the ecology of Sirex noctilio in North America with the goal of anticipating the trajectory of the Sirex invasion.

Ecological consequences of colony structure in dynamic ant nest networks.

PubMed

Ellis, Samuel; Franks, Daniel W; Robinson, Elva J H

2017-02-01

Access to resources depends on an individual's position within the environment. This is particularly important to animals that invest heavily in nest construction, such as social insects. Many ant species have a polydomous nesting strategy: a single colony inhabits several spatially separated nests, often exchanging resources between the nests. Different nests in a polydomous colony potentially have differential access to resources, but the ecological consequences of this are unclear. In this study, we investigate how nest survival and budding in polydomous wood ant ( Formica lugubris ) colonies are affected by being part of a multi-nest system. Using field data and novel analytical approaches combining survival models with dynamic network analysis, we show that the survival and budding of nests within a polydomous colony are affected by their position in the nest network structure. Specifically, we find that the flow of resources through a nest, which is based on its position within the wider nest network, determines a nest's likelihood of surviving and of founding new nests. Our results highlight how apparently disparate entities in a biological system can be integrated into a functional ecological unit. We also demonstrate how position within a dynamic network structure can have important ecological consequences.

Studies on marine oil spills and their ecological damage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mei, Hong; Yin, Yanjie

2009-09-01

The sources of marine oil spills are mainly from accidents of marine oil tankers or freighters, marine oil-drilling platforms, marine oil pipelines, marine oilfields, terrestrial pollution, oil-bearing atmosphere, and offshore oil production equipment. It is concluded upon analysis that there are two main reasons for marine oil spills: (I) The motive for huge economic benefits of oil industry owners and oil shipping agents far surpasses their sense of ecological risks. (II) Marine ecological safety has not become the main concern of national security. Oil spills are disasters because humans spare no efforts to get economic benefits from oil. The present paper draws another conclusion that marine ecological damage caused by oil spills can be roughly divided into two categories: damage to marine resource value (direct value) and damage to marine ecosystem service value (indirect value). Marine oil spills cause damage to marine biological, fishery, seawater, tourism and mineral resources to various extents, which contributes to the lower quality and value of marine resources.

Mapping social-ecological vulnerability to inform local decision making.

PubMed

Thiault, Lauric; Marshall, Paul; Gelcich, Stefan; Collin, Antoine; Chlous, Frédérique; Claudet, Joachim

2018-04-01

An overarching challenge of natural resource management and biodiversity conservation is that relationships between people and nature are difficult to integrate into tools that can effectively guide decision making. Social-ecological vulnerability offers a valuable framework for identifying and understanding important social-ecological linkages, and the implications of dependencies and other feedback loops in the system. Unfortunately, its implementation at local scales has hitherto been limited due at least in part to the lack of operational tools for spatial representation of social-ecological vulnerability. We developed a method to map social-ecological vulnerability based on information on human-nature dependencies and ecosystem services at local scales. We applied our method to the small-scale fishery of Moorea, French Polynesia, by combining spatially explicit indicators of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity of both the resource (i.e., vulnerability of reef fish assemblages to fishing) and resource users (i.e., vulnerability of fishing households to the loss of fishing opportunity). Our results revealed that both social and ecological vulnerabilities varied considerably through space and highlighted areas where sources of vulnerability were high for both social and ecological subsystems (i.e., social-ecological vulnerability hotspots) and thus of high priority for management intervention. Our approach can be used to inform decisions about where biodiversity conservation strategies are likely to be more effective and how social impacts from policy decisions can be minimized. It provides a new perspective on human-nature linkages that can help guide sustainability management at local scales; delivers insights distinct from those provided by emphasis on a single vulnerability component (e.g., exposure); and demonstrates the feasibility and value of operationalizing the social-ecological vulnerability framework for policy, planning, and participatory management decisions. © 2017 Society for Conservation Biology.

Stories and Maps, Images and Archives: Multimethod Approach to the Political Ecology of Native Property Rights and Natural Resource Management in Sabah, Malaysia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Doolittle, Amity A.

2010-01-01

The study of human-environmental relations is complex and by nature draws on theories and practices from multiple disciplines. There is no single research strategy or universal set of methods to which researchers must adhere. Particularly for scholars interested in a political ecology approach to understanding human-environmental relationships, very little has been written examining the details of “how to” design a project, develop appropriate methods, produce data, and, finally, integrate multiple forms of data into an analysis. A great deal of attention has been paid, appropriately, to the theoretical foundations of political ecology, and numerous scholarly articles and books have been published recently. But beyond Andrew Vayda’s “progressive contextualization” and Piers Blaikie and Harold Brookfield’s “chains of explanation,” remarkably little is written that provides a research model to follow, modify, and expand. Perhaps one of the reasons for this gap in scholarship is that, as expected in interdisciplinary research, researchers use a variety of methods that are suitable (and perhaps unique) to the questions they are asking. To start a conversation on the methods available for researchers interested in adopting a political ecology perspective to human-environmental interactions, I use my own research project as a case study. This research is by no means flawless or inclusive of all possible methods, but by using the details of this particular research process as a case study I hope to provide insights into field research that will be valuable for future scholarship.

Stories and maps, images and archives: multimethod approach to the political ecology of native property rights and natural resource management in Sabah, Malaysia.

PubMed

Doolittle, Amity A

2010-01-01

The study of human-environmental relations is complex and by nature draws on theories and practices from multiple disciplines. There is no single research strategy or universal set of methods to which researchers must adhere. Particularly for scholars interested in a political ecology approach to understanding human-environmental relationships, very little has been written examining the details of "how to" design a project, develop appropriate methods, produce data, and, finally, integrate multiple forms of data into an analysis. A great deal of attention has been paid, appropriately, to the theoretical foundations of political ecology, and numerous scholarly articles and books have been published recently. But beyond Andrew Vayda's "progressive contextualization" and Piers Blaikie and Harold Brookfield's "chains of explanation," remarkably little is written that provides a research model to follow, modify, and expand. Perhaps one of the reasons for this gap in scholarship is that, as expected in interdisciplinary research, researchers use a variety of methods that are suitable (and perhaps unique) to the questions they are asking. To start a conversation on the methods available for researchers interested in adopting a political ecology perspective to human-environmental interactions, I use my own research project as a case study. This research is by no means flawless or inclusive of all possible methods, but by using the details of this particular research process as a case study I hope to provide insights into field research that will be valuable for future scholarship.

Social-ecological network analysis of scale mismatches in estuary watershed restoration.

PubMed

Sayles, Jesse S; Baggio, Jacopo A

2017-03-07

Resource management boundaries seldom align with environmental systems, which can lead to social and ecological problems. Mapping and analyzing how resource management organizations in different areas collaborate can provide vital information to help overcome such misalignment. Few quantitative approaches exist, however, to analyze social collaborations alongside environmental patterns, especially among local and regional organizations (i.e., in multilevel governance settings). This paper develops and applies such an approach using social-ecological network analysis (SENA), which considers relationships among and between social and ecological units. The framework and methods are shown using an estuary restoration case from Puget Sound, United States. Collaboration patterns and quality are analyzed among local and regional organizations working in hydrologically connected areas. These patterns are correlated with restoration practitioners' assessments of the productivity of their collaborations to inform network theories for natural resource governance. The SENA is also combined with existing ecological data to jointly consider social and ecological restoration concerns. Results show potentially problematic areas in nearshore environments, where collaboration networks measured by density (percentage of possible network connections) and productivity are weakest. Many areas also have high centralization (a few nodes hold the network together), making network cohesion dependent on key organizations. Although centralization and productivity are inversely related, no clear relationship between density and productivity is observed. This research can help practitioners to identify where governance capacity needs strengthening and jointly consider social and ecological concerns. It advances SENA by developing a multilevel approach to assess social-ecological (or social-environmental) misalignments, also known as scale mismatches.

Social–ecological network analysis of scale mismatches in estuary watershed restoration

PubMed Central

Sayles, Jesse S.

2017-01-01

Resource management boundaries seldom align with environmental systems, which can lead to social and ecological problems. Mapping and analyzing how resource management organizations in different areas collaborate can provide vital information to help overcome such misalignment. Few quantitative approaches exist, however, to analyze social collaborations alongside environmental patterns, especially among local and regional organizations (i.e., in multilevel governance settings). This paper develops and applies such an approach using social–ecological network analysis (SENA), which considers relationships among and between social and ecological units. The framework and methods are shown using an estuary restoration case from Puget Sound, United States. Collaboration patterns and quality are analyzed among local and regional organizations working in hydrologically connected areas. These patterns are correlated with restoration practitioners’ assessments of the productivity of their collaborations to inform network theories for natural resource governance. The SENA is also combined with existing ecological data to jointly consider social and ecological restoration concerns. Results show potentially problematic areas in nearshore environments, where collaboration networks measured by density (percentage of possible network connections) and productivity are weakest. Many areas also have high centralization (a few nodes hold the network together), making network cohesion dependent on key organizations. Although centralization and productivity are inversely related, no clear relationship between density and productivity is observed. This research can help practitioners to identify where governance capacity needs strengthening and jointly consider social and ecological concerns. It advances SENA by developing a multilevel approach to assess social–ecological (or social–environmental) misalignments, also known as scale mismatches. PMID:28223529

A Sense of Place: Integrating Environmental Psychology into Marine Socio-Ecological Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Putten, I. E.; Fleming, A.; Fulton, E.; Plaganyi-Lloyd, E.

2016-02-01

Sense of place is a concept that is increasingly applied in different social research contexts where it can act as a bridge between disciplines that might otherwise work in parallel. A sense of place is a well established and flexible concept that has been empirically measured using different survey methods. The psychological principals and theories that underpin sense of place have been inextricably linked to the quality of ecological systems and the impact on development of the system, and vice versa. Ecological models and scenario analyses play an important role in characterising, assessing and predicting the potential impacts of alternative developments and other changes affecting ecological systems. To improve the predictive accuracy of ecological models, human drivers, interactions, and uses have been dynamically incorporated, for instance, through management strategy evaluation applied to marine ecosystem models. However, to date no socio-ecological models (whether terrestrial or marine) have been developed that incorporate a dynamic feedback between ecosystem characteristics and peoples' sense of place. These models thus essentially ignore the influence of environmental psychology on the way people use and interact with ecosystems. We develop a proof of concept and provide a mathematical basis for a Sense of Place Index (SoPI) that allows the quantitative integration of environmental psychology into socio-ecological models. Incorporating dynamic feedback between the SoPI for different resource user groups and the ecological system improves the accuracy and precision of predictions regarding future resource use as well as, ultimately, the potential state of the resource to be developed.

A Critical Review of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) in Science Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Eun-Ji Amy; Asghar, Anila; Jordan, Steven

2017-01-01

What is traditional ecological knowledge? In many disciplines, including science education, anthropology, and resource management, it has been conflated with Indigenous knowledges, which has contributed to misunderstandings. This article explores the history of traditional ecological knowledge and examines its contemporary conceptualizations in…

Addition of multiple limiting resources reduces grassland diversity

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Niche dimensionality is the most general theoretical explanation for biodiversity: more niches allow for more ecological tradeoffs between species and thus greater opportunities for coexistence. Resource competition theory predicts that removing resource limitations, by increasing resource availabil...

Social-ecological outcomes in recreational fisheries: The interaction of lakeshore development and stocking

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ziegler, Jacob P.; Golebie, Elizabeth J.; Jones, Stuart E.; Weidel, Brian C.; Solomon, Christopher T.

2017-01-01

Many ecosystems continue to experience rapid transformations due to processes like land use change and resource extraction. A systems approach to maintaining natural resources focuses on how interactions and feedbacks among components of complex social‐ecological systems generate social and ecological outcomes. In recreational fisheries, residential shoreline development and fish stocking are two widespread human behaviors that influence fisheries, yet emergent social‐ecological outcomes from these potentially interacting behaviors remain under explored. We applied a social‐ecological systems framework using a simulation model and empirical data to determine whether lakeshore development is likely to promote stocking through its adverse effects on coarse woody habitat and thereby also on survival of juvenile and adult fish. We demonstrate that high lakeshore development is likely to generate dependency of the ecosystem on the social system, in the form of stocking. Further, lakeshore development can interact with social‐ecological processes to create deficits for state‐level governments, which threatens the ability to fund further ecosystem subsidies. Our results highlight the value of a social‐ecological framework for maintaining ecosystem services like recreational fisheries.

Adaptive significance of the Indian caste system: an ecological perspective.

PubMed

Gadgil, M; Malhotra, K C

1983-01-01

Indian society is an agglomeration of several thousand endogamous groups or castes each with a restricted geographical range and a hereditarily determined mode of subsistence. These reproductively isolated castes may be compared to biological species, and the society thought of as a biological community with each caste having its specific ecological niche. In this paper we examine the ecological-niche relationships of castes which are directly dependent on natural resources. Evidence is presented to show that castes living together in the same region had so organized their pattern of resource use as to avoid excessive intercaste competition for limiting resources. Furthermore, territorial division of the total range of the caste regulated intra-caste competition. Hence, a particular plant or animal resource in a given locality was used almost exclusively by a given lineage within a caste generation after generation. This favoured the cultural evolution of traditions ensuring sustainable use of natural resources. This must have contributed significantly to the stability of Indian caste society over several thousand years. The collapse of the base of natural resources and increasing monetarization of the economy has, however, destroyed the earlier complementarity between the different castes and led to increasing conflicts between them in recent years.

[Effects of land use structure change on regional ecological health--taking Shapingba County as an example].

PubMed

Wang, Cheng; Wei, Chaofu; Gao, Ming; Luo, Guanglian; Jiang, Wei

2005-12-01

Land resource is the carrier for the exchange of matter, energy and information flows, while the change velocity and the intensity of land use has strong effects on the ecological processes such as matter circulation, energy flow, and biologic diversity. Land use structure change will alter the type, area, and spatial distribution of ecosystem, and in the meantime, result in the changes of regional ecological health. Employing the principles and methods of landscape ecology, and through endowing relative ecological value to land use type, this paper analyzed the charaeteristics of recent 10 years land use change in Shapingba County of Chongqing, and discussed the effects of land use change on regional ecological health, aimed to provide scientific references for land use planning and sustainable land resource utilization. The results indicated that transformation often occurred among different land use types, and the land use structure in each transformation phase differed quite obviously. Under different land use structure, there was a great disparity in relative ecological value of sub-ecosystems, which played various roles in regional ecological health. In general, the regional relative ecological value embodied both increase and decrease. In the future, the relative ecological value of sub-ecosystem would represent three tendencies, i.e., increase first and decrease then, continuous decrease, and continuous increase. The situation of regional ecological health would gradually become better.

Compilation of 1986 annual reports of the Navy ELF (extremely low frequency) communications system ecological-monitoring program. Volume 2. Tabs D-G. Annual progress report, January-December 1986

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

Not Available

1987-07-01

The U.S. Navy is conducting a long-term program to monitor for possible effects from the operation of its Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) Communications System to resident biota and their ecological relationships. This report documents progress of the following studies: Soil Amoeba; Soil and Litter Arthropoda and Earthworm Studies; Biological Studies on Pollinating insects: Megachilid Bees; and Small Vertebrates: Small Mammals and Nesting Birds.

Ecological Forecasting in the Applied Sciences Program and Input to the Decadal Survey

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Skiles, Joseph

2015-01-01

Ecological forecasting uses knowledge of physics, ecology and physiology to predict how ecosystems will change in the future in response to environmental factors. Further, Ecological Forecasting employs observations and models to predict the effects of environmental change on ecosystems. In doing so, it applies information from the physical, biological, and social sciences and promotes a scientific synthesis across the domains of physics, geology, chemistry, biology, and psychology. The goal is reliable forecasts that allow decision makers access to science-based tools in order to project changes in living systems. The next decadal survey will direct the development Earth Observation sensors and satellites for the next ten years. It is important that these new sensors and satellites address the requirements for ecosystem models, imagery, and other data for resource management. This presentation will give examples of these model inputs and some resources needed for NASA to continue effective Ecological Forecasting.

Social-ecological outcomes in recreational fisheries: the interaction of lakeshore development and stocking.

PubMed

Ziegler, Jacob P; Golebie, Elizabeth J; Jones, Stuart E; Weidel, Brian C; Solomon, Christopher T

2017-01-01

Many ecosystems continue to experience rapid transformations due to processes like land use change and resource extraction. A systems approach to maintaining natural resources focuses on how interactions and feedbacks among components of complex social-ecological systems generate social and ecological outcomes. In recreational fisheries, residential shoreline development and fish stocking are two widespread human behaviors that influence fisheries, yet emergent social-ecological outcomes from these potentially interacting behaviors remain under explored. We applied a social-ecological systems framework using a simulation model and empirical data to determine whether lakeshore development is likely to promote stocking through its adverse effects on coarse woody habitat and thereby also on survival of juvenile and adult fish. We demonstrate that high lakeshore development is likely to generate dependency of the ecosystem on the social system, in the form of stocking. Further, lakeshore development can interact with social-ecological processes to create deficits for state-level governments, which threatens the ability to fund further ecosystem subsidies. Our results highlight the value of a social-ecological framework for maintaining ecosystem services like recreational fisheries. © 2016 by the Ecological Society of America.

An accidental resource: the social ecological system framework applied to small wetlands in Sierran foothill oak woodlands

Treesearch

Tracy V. Hruska; Lynn Huntsinger; Jose L. Oviedo

2015-01-01

An ongoing study of the small wetlands in the northern Sierra Nevada foothill oak woodlands that provide habitat for the state-threatened California black rail (Laterallus jamaicensis coturniculus) offers an example of the way that the social ecological systems (SES) framework can be used to analyze a natural resource problem. At the outset, it was...

Proceedings: ecology and management of pinyon-juniper communities within the Interior West; 1997 September 15-18; Provo, UT

Treesearch

Stephen B. Monsen; Richard Stevens

1999-01-01

A symposium held September 15-18,1997, in Provo, UT, and Sanpete County, UT, provided information on the ecology, management, resource values, and restoration of pinyon-juniper communities in the Interior Western United States. The conference was hosted by the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources in...

Globalization: Ecological consequences of global-scale connectivity in people, resources and information

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Globalization is a phenomenon affecting all facets of the Earth System. Within the context of ecological systems, it is becoming increasingly apparent that global connectivity among terrestrial systems, the atmosphere, and oceans is driving many ecological dynamics at finer scales and pushing thresh...

Estimating hydrologic and erosion response for use in ecological site descriptions

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Ecological resilience of rangeland landscapes is strongly related to eco-hydrologic pattern-process feedbacks that regulate the retention or loss of water and soil resources. However, key ecohydrologic information is often lacking in Ecological Site Descriptions (ESDs) used to guide management of ra...

LIVING RESOURCES AND THEIR HABITATS ARE THE FOCUS OF THE GULF ECOLOGY DIVISION'S MISSION

EPA Science Inventory

This brief article introduces ERF Newsletter readers to the Gulf Ecology Division. Future articles will showcase our estuarine and near-coastal research efforts in areas such as biochemical and cellular toxicology, temporal and spatial scaling of ecological data, reproductive and...

76 FR 70131 - Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board; Membership

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-11-10

... CONTACT: Karen D. Higginbotham, Director, Executive Resources Division, 3606A, Office of Human Resources... executive. Members of the 2011 EPA Performance Review Board are: William H. Benson, Director, Gulf Ecology...), Director, Executive Resources Division, Office of Human Resources, Office of Administration and Resources...

Selection of an evaluation index for water ecological civilizations of water-shortage cities based on the grey rough set

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, X. Y.; Zhu, J. W.; Xie, J. C.; Liu, J. L.; Jiang, R. G.

2017-08-01

According to the characteristics and existing problems of water ecological civilization of water-shortage cities, the evaluation index system of water ecological civilization was established using a grey rough set. From six aspects of water resources, water security, water environment, water ecology, water culture and water management, this study established the prime frame of the evaluation system, including 28 items, and used rough set theory to undertake optimal selection of the index system. Grey correlation theory then was used for weightings in order that the integrated evaluation index system for water ecology civilization of water-shortage cities could be constituted. Xi’an City was taken as an example, for which the results showed that 20 evaluation indexes could be obtained after optimal selection of the preliminary framework of evaluation index. The most influential indices were the water-resource category index and water environment category index. The leakage rate of the public water supply pipe network, as well as the disposal, treatment and usage rate of polluted water, urban water surface area ratio, the water quality of the main rivers, and so on also are important. It was demonstrated that the evaluation index could provide an objectively reflection of regional features and key points for the development of water ecology civilization for cities with scarce water resources. It is considered that the application example has universal applicability.

Comparing American and Chinese Students' Learning Progression on Carbon Cycling in Socio-Ecological Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, J.; Anderson, C. W.

2015-01-01

Previous studies identified a learning progression on the concept of carbon cycling that was typically followed by American students when they progress from elementary to high school. This study examines the validity of this previously identified learning progression for a different group of learners--Chinese students. The results indicate that…

Progress and Challenges in Coupled Hydrodynamic-Ecological Estuarine Modeling

EPA Science Inventory

Numerical modeling has emerged over the last several decades as a widely accepted tool for investigations in environmental sciences. In estuarine research, hydrodynamic and ecological models have moved along parallel tracks with regard to complexity, refinement, computational po...

Matching consumer feeding behaviours and resource traits: a fourth-corner problem in food-web theory.

PubMed

Monteiro, Angelo Barbosa; Faria, Lucas Del Bianco

2018-06-06

For decades, food web theory has proposed phenomenological models for the underlying structure of ecological networks. Generally, these models rely on latent niche variables that match the feeding behaviour of consumers with their resource traits. In this paper, we used a comprehensive database to evaluate different hypotheses on the best dependency structure of trait-matching patterns between consumers and resource traits. We found that consumer feeding behaviours had complex interactions with resource traits; however, few dimensions (i.e. latent variables) could reproduce the trait-matching patterns. We discuss our findings in the light of three food web models designed to reproduce the multidimensionality of food web data; additionally, we discuss how using species traits clarify food webs beyond species pairwise interactions and enable studies to infer ecological generality at larger scales, despite potential taxonomic differences, variations in ecological conditions and differences in species abundance between communities. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

Ecological Consequences of Clonal Integration in Plants

PubMed Central

Liu, Fenghong; Liu, Jian; Dong, Ming

2016-01-01

Clonal plants are widespread throughout the plant kingdom and dominate in diverse habitats. Spatiotemporal heterogeneity of environment is pervasive at multiple scales, even at scales relevant to individual plants. Clonal integration refers to resource translocation and information communication among the ramets of clonal plants. Due to clonal integration, clonal plant species possess a series of peculiar attributes: plasticity in response to local and non-local conditions, labor division with organ specialization for acquiring locally abundant resources, foraging behavior by selective placement of ramets in resource-rich microhabitats, and avoidance of intraclonal competition. Clonal integration has very profound ecological consequences for clonal plants. It allows them to efficiently cope with environmental heterogeneity, by alleviating local resource shortages, buffering environmental stresses and disturbances, influencing competitive ability, increasing invasiveness, and altering species composition and invasibility at the community level. In this paper, we present a comprehensive review of research on the ecological consequences of plant clonal integration based on a large body of literature. We also attempt to propose perspectives for future research. PMID:27446093

Building social capital in healthcare organizations: thinking ecologically for safer care.

PubMed

Hofmeyer, Anne; Marck, Patricia B

2008-01-01

Research on patient safety and health human resources, 2 critical issues for 21st century healthcare, converges on similar findings. Specifically, it is apparent that along with the patients, families, and communities we serve, nurses and other healthcare professionals navigate a volatile health care system where persistent restructuring, market pressures, and workforce instability present ongoing threats to the delivery of safer care. Drawing from the fields of nursing, healthcare ethics, health systems management, and ecological restoration, we outline the role of social capital for organizational integrity, healthy workplace cultures, sustainable resource management, improved nurse retention, effective knowledge translation, and safer patient care. Nursing leaders can use ecological thinking to build the vital resource of social capital by taking concrete steps to commit the necessary human and material resources to: (1) forge relations to foster bonding, bridging and linking social capital; (2) build solidarity and trust; (3) foster collective action and cooperation; (4) strengthen communication and knowledge exchange; and (5) create capacity for social cohesion and inclusion.

Refining the conditions for sympatric ecological speciation.

PubMed

Débarre, F

2012-12-01

Can speciation occur in a single population when different types of resources are available, in the absence of any geographical isolation, or any spatial or temporal variation in selection? The controversial topics of sympatric speciation and ecological speciation have already stimulated many theoretical studies, most of them agreeing on the fact that mechanisms generating disruptive selection, some level of assortment, and enough heterogeneity in the available resources, are critical for sympatric speciation to occur. Few studies, however, have combined the three factors and investigated their interactions. In this article, I analytically derive conditions for sympatric speciation in a general model where the distribution of resources can be uni- or bimodal, and where a parameter controls the range of resources that an individual can exploit. This approach bridges the gap between models of a unimodal continuum of resources and Levene-type models with discrete resources. I then test these conditions against simulation results from a recently published article (Thibert-Plante & Hendry, 2011, J. Evol. Biol. 24: 2186-2196) and confirm that sympatric ecological speciation is favoured when (i) selection is disruptive (i.e. individuals with an intermediate trait are at a local fitness minimum), (ii) resources are differentiated enough and (iii) mating is assortative. I also discuss the role of mating preference functions and the need (or lack thereof) for bimodality in resource distributions for diversification. © 2012 The Author. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2012 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

Introduction: Ecological knowledge, theory and information in space and time [Chapter 1

Treesearch

Samuel A. Cushman; Falk Huettmann

2010-01-01

A central theme of this book is that there is a strong mutual dependence between explanatory theory, available data and analytical method in determining the lurching progress of ecological knowledge (Fig. 1.1). The two central arguments are first that limits in each of theory, data and method have continuously constrained advances in understanding ecological systems...

Vulnerability of Oyster Resource Users to Ecological Change: Case Study from Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Humphries, A.; La Peyre, M.; Hall, S.; Dowty Beech, R.

2016-02-01

Knowledge of vulnerability provides the foundation for developing actions that minimize impacts on people while maximizing the sustainability of ecosystem goods and services including fisheries. As a result, it is becoming increasingly important to determine if resource-dependent people are vulnerable to ecological change as anthropogenic and climate-induced stressors affect resources in different ways. In coastal Louisiana, the current era of rapid marsh loss and abrupt environmental variation (e.g., sediment diversions) has the potential to undermine oyster-associated livelihoods for those most vulnerable. To evaluate vulnerability, we examined dimensions of social sensitivity and adaptive capacity using semi-structured interviews with three stakeholder groups in the oyster fishery of Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. Results indicate that oyster owners/operators are highly dependent, and thus sensitive, to changes in the ecological conditions of the fishery due to high levels of occupational identity; however they are likely adaptable, reflected in their willingness to learn about new practices and evolve over time. In contrast, oyster fishers that do not own any portion of the business in which they operate are bad at coping with change and frequently hold negative or fatalistic views on financial planning. Overall, oyster resource users most vulnerable to ecological change will be those with high levels of stewardship, open-minded values, and a balanced perception of environment, as well as low to moderate levels of personal and financial buffers and trust. These results suggest that resource users with higher sensitivity to change are not necessarily most vulnerable because sensitivity may be offset by adaptive capacity. In other words, while sensitivity may determine the potential impact of a climate- or human-induced ecological change to the oyster fishery, adaptive capacity can be a major influence on what impacts actually eventuate.

Study benefit value of utilization water resources for energy and sustainable environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Juniah, Restu; Sastradinata, Marwan

2017-11-01

Referring to the concept of sustainable development, the environment is said to be sustainable if the fulfillment of three pillars of development that is economic, social and ecological or the environment itself. The environment can sustained in the principle of ecology or basic principles of environmental science, when the three environmental components, namely the natural environment, the artificial environment (the built environment) and the social environment can be aligned for sustainability. The natural environment in this study is the water resources, the artificial environment is micro hydroelectric power generation (MHPG), and the social environment is the community living around the MHPG. The existence of MHPG is intended for the sustainability of special electrical energy for areas not yet reached by electricity derived from the state electricity company (SEC). The utilization of MHPG Singalaga in South Ogan Komering Ulu (OKUS) district is not only intended for economic, ecological, and social sustainability in Southern OKU district especially those who live in Singalaga Village, Kisam Tinggi District. This paper discusses the economic, ecological and social benefits of water resources utilization in Southern OKU District for MHPG Singalaga. The direct economic benefits that arise for people living around MHPG Singalaga is the cost incurred by the community for the use of electricity is less than if the community uses electricity coming from outside the MHPG. The cost to society in the form of dues amounting to IDR 15,000 a month / household. Social benefits with the absorption of manpower to manage the MHPG is chairman, secretary and 3 members, while the ecological benefits of water resources and sustainable energy as well as the community while maintaining the natural vegetation that is located around the MHPG for the continuity of water resources.

Research on agricultural ecology and environment analysis and modeling based on RS and GIS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Wensheng; Chen, Hongfu; Wang, Mingsheng

2009-07-01

Analysis of agricultural ecology and environment is based on the data of agricultural resources, which are obtained by RS monitoring. The over-exploitation of farmlands will cause structural changes of the soil composition, and damage the planting environment and the agro-ecosystem. Through the research on the dynamic monitoring methods of multitemporal RS images and GIS technology, the crop growth status, crop acreage and other relevant information in agricultural production are extracted based on the monitor and analysis of the conditions of the fields and crop growth. The agro-ecological GIS platform is developed with the establishment of the agricultural resources management database, which manages spatial data, RS data and attribute data of agricultural resources. Using the RS, GIS analysis results, the reasons of agro-ecological destruction are analyzed and the evaluation methods are established. This paper puts forward the concept of utilization capacity of farmland, which describes farmland space for development and utilization that is influenced by the conditions of the land, water resources, climate, pesticides and chemical fertilizers and many other agricultural production factors. Assessment model of agricultural land use capacity is constructed with the help of Fuzzy. Assessing the utilization capacity of farmland can be helpful to agricultural production and ecological protection of farmland. This paper describes the application of the capacity evaluation model with simulated data in two aspects, namely, in evaluating the status of farmland development and utilization and in optimal planting.

Landscape ecological risk assessment study in arid land

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gong, Lu; Amut, Aniwaer; Shi, Qingdong; Wang, Gary Z.

2007-09-01

The ecosystem risk assessment is an essential decision making system for predicting the reconstruction and recovery of a damaged ecosystem after intensive mankind activities. The sustainability of environment and resources of the lake ecosystem in arid districts have been paid close attention to by international communities as well as numerous experts and scholars. The ecological risk assessment offered a scientific foundation for making the decision and execution of ecological risk management. Bosten Lake, the largest inland freshwater lake in China, is the main water source of the industrial and agricultural production as well as the local residence in Yanqi basin, Kuara city and Yuri County in the southern Xinjiang. Bosten Lake also provides a direct water source for emergency transportation in the Lower Reaches of Tarim River. However, with the intensive utilizations of water and soil resources, the environmental condition in the Bosten Lake has become more and more serious. In this study, the theory and method of landscape ecological risk assessment has been practiced using 3S technologies combined with the frontier theory of landscape ecology. Defining the mainly risk resource including flood, drought, water pollution and rich nutrition of water has been evaluated based on the ecosystem risk assessment system. The main process includes five stages: regional natural resources analysis, risk receptor selection, risk sources evaluation, exposure and hazard analysis, and integrated risk assessment. Based on the risk assessment results, the environmental risk management countermeasure has been determined.

An introduction to the special issue “Ecological Sites for Landscape Management”

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The December 2010 Rangelands “Ecological Site Descriptions”  was one of the most widely read issues ever published. The individual papers have been used by scientists, managers, policymakers, and educators to convey the importance of ecological site information to natural resource management and to ...

Marine Ecology Research Resource Units Grades 7-9. Draft.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Contra Costa County Dept. of Education, Pleasant Hill, CA.

Project Marine Ecology Research (MER) is an ecological unit designed to involve secondary students in the study of the marine biome. The teachers are also involved with MER through inservice participation and materials preparation. The unit is designed to be incorporated within the existing science curriculum. Specifically, the activities concern…

Applying a Resilience Systems Framework to Urban Environmental Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krasny, Marianne E.; Tidball, Keith G.

2009-01-01

A growing body of literature on community gardening, watershed restoration, and similar "civic ecology" practices suggests avenues for integrating social and ecological outcomes in urban natural resources management. In this paper, we argue that an environmental education programme in which learning is situated in civic ecology practices…

Worldviews in Transition: Using Ecological Autobiographies to Explore Students' Worldviews

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jurin, Richard R.; Hutchinson, Suzanne

2005-01-01

College students (n=292), after completing an American environmental history course, selfselected, defined and defended their ecological worldview in an ecological autobiography essay that used historic content about different philosophies concerning the environment and natural resource use. The whole sample divided into groups along a spectrum of…

The chemical ecology of cyanobacteria

PubMed Central

Leão, Pedro N.; Engene, Niclas; Antunes, Agostinho; Gerwick, William H.; Vasconcelos, Vitor

2014-01-01

This review covers the literature on the chemically mediated ecology of cyanobacteria, including ultraviolet radiation protection, feeding-deterrence, allelopathy, resource competition, and signalling. To highlight the chemical and biological diversity of this group of organisms, evolutionary and chemotaxonomical studies are presented. Several technologically relevant aspects of cyanobacterial chemical ecology are also discussed. PMID:22237837

A social-ecological database to advance research on infrastructure development impacts in the Brazilian Amazon.

PubMed

Tucker Lima, Joanna M; Valle, Denis; Moretto, Evandro Mateus; Pulice, Sergio Mantovani Paiva; Zuca, Nadia Lucia; Roquetti, Daniel Rondinelli; Beduschi, Liviam Elizabeth Cordeiro; Praia, Amanda Salles; Okamoto, Claudia Parucce Franco; da Silva Carvalhaes, Vinicius Leite; Branco, Evandro Albiach; Barbezani, Bruna; Labandera, Emily; Timpe, Kelsie; Kaplan, David

2016-08-30

Recognized as one of the world's most vital natural and cultural resources, the Amazon faces a wide variety of threats from natural resource and infrastructure development. Within this context, rigorous scientific study of the region's complex social-ecological system is critical to inform and direct decision-making toward more sustainable environmental and social outcomes. Given the Amazon's tightly linked social and ecological components and the scope of potential development impacts, effective study of this system requires an easily accessible resource that provides a broad and reliable data baseline. This paper brings together multiple datasets from diverse disciplines (including human health, socio-economics, environment, hydrology, and energy) to provide investigators with a variety of baseline data to explore the multiple long-term effects of infrastructure development in the Brazilian Amazon.

A social-ecological database to advance research on infrastructure development impacts in the Brazilian Amazon

PubMed Central

Tucker Lima, Joanna M.; Valle, Denis; Moretto, Evandro Mateus; Pulice, Sergio Mantovani Paiva; Zuca, Nadia Lucia; Roquetti, Daniel Rondinelli; Beduschi, Liviam Elizabeth Cordeiro; Praia, Amanda Salles; Okamoto, Claudia Parucce Franco; da Silva Carvalhaes, Vinicius Leite; Branco, Evandro Albiach; Barbezani, Bruna; Labandera, Emily; Timpe, Kelsie; Kaplan, David

2016-01-01

Recognized as one of the world’s most vital natural and cultural resources, the Amazon faces a wide variety of threats from natural resource and infrastructure development. Within this context, rigorous scientific study of the region’s complex social-ecological system is critical to inform and direct decision-making toward more sustainable environmental and social outcomes. Given the Amazon’s tightly linked social and ecological components and the scope of potential development impacts, effective study of this system requires an easily accessible resource that provides a broad and reliable data baseline. This paper brings together multiple datasets from diverse disciplines (including human health, socio-economics, environment, hydrology, and energy) to provide investigators with a variety of baseline data to explore the multiple long-term effects of infrastructure development in the Brazilian Amazon. PMID:27575915

Fort Collins Science Center - Fiscal Year 2008 Science Accomplishments

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wilson, Juliette T.

2009-01-01

Public land and natural resource managers in the United States are confronted with increasingly complex decisions that have important ramifications for both ecological and human systems. The scientists and technical professionals at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Fort Collins Science Center (FORT) contribute a unique blend of ecological, socioeconomic, and technological expertise to investigating complicated ecological problems that address critical management questions. In Fiscal Year 2008 (FY08), FORT's scientific and technical professionals continued research vital to the science and management needs of U.S. Department of the Interior agencies and other entities. This annual report describes select FY08 accomplishments in research and technical assistance involving biological information management and delivery; aquatic, riparian, and managed-river ecosystems; invasive species; status and trends of biological resources (including human dimensions and social science); terrestrial ecosystems; and fish and wildlife resources.

Measuring business performance using indicators of ecologically sustainable organizations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Snow, Charles G., Jr.; Snow, Charles C.

2001-02-01

The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of ecology-based performance measures as a way of augmenting the Balanced Scorecard approach to organizational performance measurement. The Balanced Scorecard, as proposed by Kaplan and Norton, focuses on four primary dimensions; financial, internal-business-process, customer, and learning and growth perspectives. Recently, many 'green' organizational theorists have developed the concept of "Ecologically Sustainable Organizations" or ESOs, a concept rooted in open systems theory. The ESO is called upon to consider resource use and conservation as a strategy for long-term viability. This paper asserts that in order to achieve ESO status, an organization must not only measure but also reward resource conservation measures. Only by adding a fifth perspective for ecological dimensions will the entity be truly motivated toward ESO status.

A taxonomic wish-list for community ecology.

PubMed Central

Gotelli, Nicholas J

2004-01-01

Community ecology seeks to explain the number and relative abundance of coexisting species. Four research frontiers in community ecology are closely tied to research in systematics and taxonomy: the statistics of species richness estimators, global patterns of biodiversity, the influence of global climate change on community structure, and phylogenetic influences on community structure. The most pressing needs for taxonomic information in community ecology research are usable taxonomic keys, current nomenclature, species occurrence records and resolved phylogenies. These products can best be obtained from Internet-based phylogenetic and taxonomic resources, but the lack of trained professional systematists and taxonomists threatens this effort. Community ecologists will benefit most directly from research in systematics and taxonomy by making better use of resources in museums and herbaria, and by actively seeking training, information and collaborations with taxonomic specialists. PMID:15253346

Finding Our Way through Phenotypes

PubMed Central

Deans, Andrew R.; Lewis, Suzanna E.; Huala, Eva; Anzaldo, Salvatore S.; Ashburner, Michael; Balhoff, James P.; Blackburn, David C.; Blake, Judith A.; Burleigh, J. Gordon; Chanet, Bruno; Cooper, Laurel D.; Courtot, Mélanie; Csösz, Sándor; Cui, Hong; Dahdul, Wasila; Das, Sandip; Dececchi, T. Alexander; Dettai, Agnes; Diogo, Rui; Druzinsky, Robert E.; Dumontier, Michel; Franz, Nico M.; Friedrich, Frank; Gkoutos, George V.; Haendel, Melissa; Harmon, Luke J.; Hayamizu, Terry F.; He, Yongqun; Hines, Heather M.; Ibrahim, Nizar; Jackson, Laura M.; Jaiswal, Pankaj; James-Zorn, Christina; Köhler, Sebastian; Lecointre, Guillaume; Lapp, Hilmar; Lawrence, Carolyn J.; Le Novère, Nicolas; Lundberg, John G.; Macklin, James; Mast, Austin R.; Midford, Peter E.; Mikó, István; Mungall, Christopher J.; Oellrich, Anika; Osumi-Sutherland, David; Parkinson, Helen; Ramírez, Martín J.; Richter, Stefan; Robinson, Peter N.; Ruttenberg, Alan; Schulz, Katja S.; Segerdell, Erik; Seltmann, Katja C.; Sharkey, Michael J.; Smith, Aaron D.; Smith, Barry; Specht, Chelsea D.; Squires, R. Burke; Thacker, Robert W.; Thessen, Anne; Fernandez-Triana, Jose; Vihinen, Mauno; Vize, Peter D.; Vogt, Lars; Wall, Christine E.; Walls, Ramona L.; Westerfeld, Monte; Wharton, Robert A.; Wirkner, Christian S.; Woolley, James B.; Yoder, Matthew J.; Zorn, Aaron M.; Mabee, Paula

2015-01-01

Despite a large and multifaceted effort to understand the vast landscape of phenotypic data, their current form inhibits productive data analysis. The lack of a community-wide, consensus-based, human- and machine-interpretable language for describing phenotypes and their genomic and environmental contexts is perhaps the most pressing scientific bottleneck to integration across many key fields in biology, including genomics, systems biology, development, medicine, evolution, ecology, and systematics. Here we survey the current phenomics landscape, including data resources and handling, and the progress that has been made to accurately capture relevant data descriptions for phenotypes. We present an example of the kind of integration across domains that computable phenotypes would enable, and we call upon the broader biology community, publishers, and relevant funding agencies to support efforts to surmount today's data barriers and facilitate analytical reproducibility. PMID:25562316

Finding our way through phenotypes.

PubMed

Deans, Andrew R; Lewis, Suzanna E; Huala, Eva; Anzaldo, Salvatore S; Ashburner, Michael; Balhoff, James P; Blackburn, David C; Blake, Judith A; Burleigh, J Gordon; Chanet, Bruno; Cooper, Laurel D; Courtot, Mélanie; Csösz, Sándor; Cui, Hong; Dahdul, Wasila; Das, Sandip; Dececchi, T Alexander; Dettai, Agnes; Diogo, Rui; Druzinsky, Robert E; Dumontier, Michel; Franz, Nico M; Friedrich, Frank; Gkoutos, George V; Haendel, Melissa; Harmon, Luke J; Hayamizu, Terry F; He, Yongqun; Hines, Heather M; Ibrahim, Nizar; Jackson, Laura M; Jaiswal, Pankaj; James-Zorn, Christina; Köhler, Sebastian; Lecointre, Guillaume; Lapp, Hilmar; Lawrence, Carolyn J; Le Novère, Nicolas; Lundberg, John G; Macklin, James; Mast, Austin R; Midford, Peter E; Mikó, István; Mungall, Christopher J; Oellrich, Anika; Osumi-Sutherland, David; Parkinson, Helen; Ramírez, Martín J; Richter, Stefan; Robinson, Peter N; Ruttenberg, Alan; Schulz, Katja S; Segerdell, Erik; Seltmann, Katja C; Sharkey, Michael J; Smith, Aaron D; Smith, Barry; Specht, Chelsea D; Squires, R Burke; Thacker, Robert W; Thessen, Anne; Fernandez-Triana, Jose; Vihinen, Mauno; Vize, Peter D; Vogt, Lars; Wall, Christine E; Walls, Ramona L; Westerfeld, Monte; Wharton, Robert A; Wirkner, Christian S; Woolley, James B; Yoder, Matthew J; Zorn, Aaron M; Mabee, Paula

2015-01-01

Despite a large and multifaceted effort to understand the vast landscape of phenotypic data, their current form inhibits productive data analysis. The lack of a community-wide, consensus-based, human- and machine-interpretable language for describing phenotypes and their genomic and environmental contexts is perhaps the most pressing scientific bottleneck to integration across many key fields in biology, including genomics, systems biology, development, medicine, evolution, ecology, and systematics. Here we survey the current phenomics landscape, including data resources and handling, and the progress that has been made to accurately capture relevant data descriptions for phenotypes. We present an example of the kind of integration across domains that computable phenotypes would enable, and we call upon the broader biology community, publishers, and relevant funding agencies to support efforts to surmount today's data barriers and facilitate analytical reproducibility.

CnidBase: The Cnidarian Evolutionary Genomics Database

PubMed Central

Ryan, Joseph F.; Finnerty, John R.

2003-01-01

CnidBase, the Cnidarian Evolutionary Genomics Database, is a tool for investigating the evolutionary, developmental and ecological factors that affect gene expression and gene function in cnidarians. In turn, CnidBase will help to illuminate the role of specific genes in shaping cnidarian biodiversity in the present day and in the distant past. CnidBase highlights evolutionary changes between species within the phylum Cnidaria and structures genomic and expression data to facilitate comparisons to non-cnidarian metazoans. CnidBase aims to further the progress that has already been made in the realm of cnidarian evolutionary genomics by creating a central community resource which will help drive future research and facilitate more accurate classification and comparison of new experimental data with existing data. CnidBase is available at http://cnidbase.bu.edu/. PMID:12519972

Declining reliance on marine resources in remote South Pacific societies: ecological versus socio-economic drivers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turner, R. A.; Cakacaka, A.; Graham, N. A. J.; Polunin, N. V. C.; Pratchett, M. S.; Stead, S. M.; Wilson, S. K.

2007-12-01

Degraded coral reef ecosystems yield limited goods and services, which is expected to have significant socio-economic impacts on isolated tropical island communities with strong reliance on coral reefs. This study investigates socio-economic changes, specifically in fresh fish consumption and fishing activities, associated with environmental degradation at five fishing grounds ( qoliqoli) in the Lau Islands (Fiji). Semi-structured interviews with fishers and senior household members revealed that the importance of fishing was low relative to other occupations, and consumption of fresh fish has declined over the last decade. Reduced fishing and choice of fresh fish is largely attributable to an increased need to derive income as well as new income-generating opportunities. A possible consequence of reduced reliance on marine resources was limited awareness of recent environmental degradation caused by climate-induced coral bleaching and outbreaks of coral-feeding crown-of-thorns starfish. Limited use and reduced awareness of the local marine environment in the short term may erode social memory and local ecological knowledge, reducing opportunities to fall back on marine resources. This may also compromise long-term economic and social stability. Conversely, low reliance on marine resources may confer greater flexibility to adapt to future ecological change in the marine environment. Importantly, changes in fish consumption and exploitation of marine resources were linked to socio-economic factors rather than a consequence of recent degradation of marine environments. Greater knowledge of the dynamics driving change in marine resource use is necessary to understand how societies respond to ecological and socio-economic change, and to identify opportunities for adaptive sustainable ecosystem management.

[Power generation and ecology: socio-economic collision].

PubMed

Belonogova, M V; Davydov, B I

1999-01-01

The authors make analysis of the socio-economic collision between power generation and ecology. Russia enters the world market in the period of global and local ecological ill-being. The following eight dimensions of the problem have been reviewed: uncontrolled growth of population, limited earth resources, life standards and ecological crisis, national/ecological interests and power safety, eco- and power regionalism, religion and ethnoses (demography and energy reserves), eco-sitting of power installations, sanitary guidelines and standards and the reality.

Positives and pathologies of natural resource management on private land-conservation areas.

PubMed

Clements, Hayley S; Cumming, Graeme S

2017-06-01

In managed natural resource systems, such as fisheries and rangelands, there is a recognized trade-off between managing for short-term benefits and managing for longer term resilience. Management actions that stabilize ecological attributes or processes can improve productivity in the supply of ecosystem goods and services in the short term but erode system resilience at longer time scales. For example, fire suppression in rangelands can increase grass biomass initially but ultimately result in an undesirable, shrub-dominated system. Analyses of this phenomenon have focused largely on how management actions influence slow-changing biophysical system attributes (such as vegetation composition). Data on the frequency of management actions that reduce natural ecological variation on 66 private land-conservation areas (PLCAs) in South Africa were used to investigate how management actions are influenced by manager decision-making approaches, a largely ignored part of the problem. The pathology of natural resource management was evident on some PLCAs: increased focus on revenue-generation in decision making resulted in an increased frequency of actions to stabilize short-term variation in large mammal populations, which led to increased revenues from ecotourism or hunting. On many PLCAs, these management actions corresponded with a reduced focus on ecological monitoring and an increase in overstocking of game (i.e., ungulate species) and stocking of extralimitals (i.e., game species outside their historical range). Positives in natural resource management also existed. Some managers monitored slower changing ecological attributes, which resulted in less-intensive management, fewer extralimital species, and lower stocking rates. Our unique, empirical investigation of monitoring-management relationships illustrates that management decisions informed by revenue monitoring versus ecological monitoring can have opposing consequences for natural resource productivity and sustainability. Promoting management actions that maintain resilience in natural resource systems therefore requires cognizance of why managers act the way they do and how these actions can gradually shift managers toward unsustainable strategies. © 2016 Society for Conservation Biology.

Studies on water resources carrying capacity in Tuhai river basin based on ecological footprint

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Chengshuai; Xu, Lirong; Fu, Xin

2017-05-01

In this paper, the method of the water ecological footprint (WEF) was used to evaluate water resources carrying capacity and water resources sustainability of Tuhai River Basin in Shandong Province. The results show that: (1) The WEF had a downward trend in overall volatility in Tuhai River Basin from 2003 to 2011. Agricultural water occupies high proportion, which was a major contributor to the WEF, and about 86.9% of agricultural WEF was used for farmland irrigation; (2) The water resources carrying capacity had a downward trend in general, which was mostly affected by some natural factors in this basin such as hydrology and meteorology in Tuhai River Basin; (3) Based on analysis of water resources ecological deficit, it can be concluded that the water resources utilization mode was in an unhealthy pattern and it was necessary to improve the utilization efficiency of water resources in Tuhai River Basin; (4) In view of water resources utilization problems in the studied area, well irrigation should be greatly developed at the head of Yellow River Irrigation Area(YRIA), however, water from Yellow River should be utilized for irrigation as much as possible, combined with agricultural water-saving measures and controlled exploiting groundwater at the tail of YRIA. Therefore, the combined usage of surface water and ground water of YRIA is an important way to realize agricultural water saving and sustainable utilization of water resources in Tuhai River Basin.

Cultural resource management and the necessity of cultural and natural resource collaboration

Treesearch

Roderick Kevin Donald; Kara Kusche; Collin Gaines

2005-01-01

Cultural Resource Specialists function as interpreters of past and present human behavior through the analysis of cultural/natural resources vital to human ecological sustainability. When developing short and long-term preservation strategies for cultural resources, it is more current and innovative for Cultural Resource Specialists to think of past human populations...

Potential use of geothermal resources in the Snake River Basin: an environmental overview. Volume II. Annotated bibliography

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

Spencer, S.G.; Russell, B.F.; Sullivan, J.F.

This volume is a partially annotated bibliography of reference materials pertaining to the seven KGRA's. The bibliography is divided into sections by program element as follows: terrestrial ecology, aquatic ecology, heritage resources, socioeconomics and demography, geology, geothermal, soils, hydrology and water quality, seismicity, and subsidence. Cross-referencing is available for those references which are applicable to specific KGRA's. (MHR)

Improving the integration of recreation management with management of other natural resources by applying concepts of scale from ecology

Treesearch

Wayde c. Morse; Troy E. Hall; Linda E. Kruger

2008-01-01

In this article, we examine how issues of scale affect the integration of recreation management with the management of other natural resources on public lands. We present two theories used to address scale issues in ecology and explore how they can improve the two most widely applied recreation-planning frameworks. The theory of patch dynamics and hierarchy theory are...

The Natural Resources Conservation Service land resource hierarchy and ecological sites

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Resource areas of the NRCS have long been important to soil geography. At both regional and landscape scales, resource areas are used to stratify programs and practices based on geographical areas where resource concerns, problems, or treatment needs are similar. However, the inability to quantifiab...

75 FR 70002 - Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board; Membership

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-11-16

... CONTACT: Karen D. Higginbotham, Director, Executive Resources Division, 3606A, Office of Human Resources... Human Resources, Office of Administration and Resources Management; William H. Benson, Director, Gulf Ecology Division, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Office of Research and...

Floating Ocean Platform

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-08-15

floating structures create novel habitats for subtidal epibiota?, MARINE ECOLOGY -PROGRESS SERIES, 43-52 Mar. Ecol.- Prog. Ser., 2002 Vegueria, SFJ Godoy... ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS, 350-366 Ecol. Appl., 2000 Niedzwecki, JM van de Lindt, JW Gage, JH Teigen, PS, Design estimates of surface wave interaction with...The ecological effects beyond the offshore platform, Coastal Zone: Proceedings of the Symposium on Coastal and Ocean Management, v 2, n pt2, 1989, p

How superdiffusion gets arrested: ecological encounters explain shift from Lévy to Brownian movement

PubMed Central

de Jager, Monique; Bartumeus, Frederic; Kölzsch, Andrea; Weissing, Franz J.; Hengeveld, Geerten M.; Nolet, Bart A.; Herman, Peter M. J.; van de Koppel, Johan

2014-01-01

Ecological theory uses Brownian motion as a default template for describing ecological movement, despite limited mechanistic underpinning. The generality of Brownian motion has recently been challenged by empirical studies that highlight alternative movement patterns of animals, especially when foraging in resource-poor environments. Yet, empirical studies reveal animals moving in a Brownian fashion when resources are abundant. We demonstrate that Einstein's original theory of collision-induced Brownian motion in physics provides a parsimonious, mechanistic explanation for these observations. Here, Brownian motion results from frequent encounters between organisms in dense environments. In density-controlled experiments, movement patterns of mussels shifted from Lévy towards Brownian motion with increasing density. When the analysis was restricted to moves not truncated by encounters, this shift did not occur. Using a theoretical argument, we explain that any movement pattern approximates Brownian motion at high-resource densities, provided that movement is interrupted upon encounters. Hence, the observed shift to Brownian motion does not indicate a density-dependent change in movement strategy but rather results from frequent collisions. Our results emphasize the need for a more mechanistic use of Brownian motion in ecology, highlighting that especially in rich environments, Brownian motion emerges from ecological interactions, rather than being a default movement pattern. PMID:24225464

How superdiffusion gets arrested: ecological encounters explain shift from Lévy to Brownian movement.

PubMed

de Jager, Monique; Bartumeus, Frederic; Kölzsch, Andrea; Weissing, Franz J; Hengeveld, Geerten M; Nolet, Bart A; Herman, Peter M J; van de Koppel, Johan

2014-01-07

Ecological theory uses Brownian motion as a default template for describing ecological movement, despite limited mechanistic underpinning. The generality of Brownian motion has recently been challenged by empirical studies that highlight alternative movement patterns of animals, especially when foraging in resource-poor environments. Yet, empirical studies reveal animals moving in a Brownian fashion when resources are abundant. We demonstrate that Einstein's original theory of collision-induced Brownian motion in physics provides a parsimonious, mechanistic explanation for these observations. Here, Brownian motion results from frequent encounters between organisms in dense environments. In density-controlled experiments, movement patterns of mussels shifted from Lévy towards Brownian motion with increasing density. When the analysis was restricted to moves not truncated by encounters, this shift did not occur. Using a theoretical argument, we explain that any movement pattern approximates Brownian motion at high-resource densities, provided that movement is interrupted upon encounters. Hence, the observed shift to Brownian motion does not indicate a density-dependent change in movement strategy but rather results from frequent collisions. Our results emphasize the need for a more mechanistic use of Brownian motion in ecology, highlighting that especially in rich environments, Brownian motion emerges from ecological interactions, rather than being a default movement pattern.

Ecologically Safe Geothermal Energy Resources in Western Siberia near high-rise construction zones

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shevchenko, Alexandr; Shiganova, Olga

2018-03-01

The development of geothermal energy in combination with other renewable energy sources (the sun, the wind) will help to solve the problem of heat supply and electrification in near high-rise construction zones of the country, especially in sparsely populated parts, where centralized energy and heat supply is economically unacceptable, and will improve the ecological situation. The aim of the research is to analyze the geothermal resources of the main aquifers in Western Siberia and to develop recommendations for further study and use of heat and power resources of this territory. The article gives retrospective of state research programs and potential use of hydrothermal resources of administrative units geographically entering the territory under consideration. It is noted that by now such programs have been curtailed for various reasons, although there are examples of their successful and effective use in various fields of industry and agriculture. According to the decision of the Supreme Ecological Council of the State Duma Committee of the Russian Federation adopted in 2014 on the beginning of the development of federal targeted programs for the use of heat power water as a source of electricity and heat supply, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation made proposals for further research and use of hydrothermal waters in Western Siberia. Implementation of the programs proposed by the authors, alongside with other positive aspects, will solve the problems of heat supply in remote territories and improve the environmental situation in the region.

The Evaluation of Land Ecological Safety of Chengchao Iron Mine Based on PSR and MEM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jin, Xiangdong; Chen, Yong

2018-01-01

Land ecological security is of vital importance to local security and sustainable development of mining activities. The study has analyzed the potential causal chains between the land ecological security of Iron Mine mining environment, mine resource and the social-economic background. On the base of Pressure-State-Response model, the paper set up a matter element evaluation model of land ecological security, and applies it in Chengchao iron mine. The evaluation result proves to be effective in land ecological evaluation.

Natural Resource Management based on Gender Perspectives and Integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge of the Tepera in Jayapura, Papua

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rumbiak, W. A.; Wambrauw, E. V.

2018-05-01

The Tepera in Jayapura Regency have a traditional ecological concept of managing their natural resources which evolved over generations. The spatial concept of their resources management is recorded visually on mental maps. The existing conditions of the landscape, forest, coastal area, and sea are considered heritage and have economic, ecological, and cultural values. The people have their own perspectives on the relationship between the resources management, cultural values, gender perspectives, and development. Thus, this research aims to identify the gender perspective in the natural resource management and environmental services; and to analyse the sustainable pattern of the land use and cultural zoning in the resources management. The methodology comprises grounded research and Participatory Action Research. This research has three findings, i.e., the tribe named the landscape; they have developed a zoning system to manage the forest traditionally; and there is a difference in perception between men and women regarding the type of forest and landscape related to food and traditional medicine sources. Therefore, it is important to incorporate the concept of managing the environment and the cultural zones of the Tepera in the programs of the local government to direct the development in sustainable way. In addition, the female participation in managing the environment should be improved, especially related to domestic aspects.

Ecological approach to resource survey and planning for environmentally significant Areas: The ABC method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bastedo, Jamie D.; Nelson, J. Gordon; Theberge, John B.

1984-03-01

A resource survey and planning method for parks, reserves, and other environmentally significant areas (ESAs) is presented in the context of a holistic balanced approach to land use and environmental management. This method provides a framework for the acquisition, analysis, presentation, and application of diverse ecological data pertinent to land use planning and resource management within ESAs. Through the independent analysis and subsequent integration of abiotic, biotic, and cultural or ABC information, land areas within an ESA are identified in terms of their relative environmental significance and environmental constraints. The former term encompasses wildlife, historic, and other resource values, while the latter term reflects biophysical hazards and sensitivities, and land use conflicts. The method thus calls for a matching of an ESA's distinctive attributes with appropriate land use and institutional arrancements through an analysis of available acts, regulations, agencies, and other conservation and land use management mechanisms. The method culminates with a management proposal showing proposed park or reserve allocations, buffer areas, or other land use controls aimed at preserving an ESA's special ecological qualities, while providing for resource development. The authors suggest that all resource management decisions affecting ESA's should be governed by a philosophical stance that recognizes a spectrum of broad land use types, ranging from preservation to extractive use and rehabilitation.

A systematic review of US rangeland social science

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Rangeland science aims to create knowledge to sustain rangeland social-ecological systems over the long term. Range science has made substantial progress on understanding ecological dynamics of rangeland systems and the management practices that sustain them, and these findings have been systematica...

Ecological sites: A useful tool for land management

Treesearch

Alicia N. Struckhoff; Douglas Wallace; Fred Young

2017-01-01

Developing ecological sites in Missouri is a multiagency, multidiscipline effort led by the Missouri Department of Conservation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service. The methodology developed in Missouri has recently served as a model for ecological site development across the country and has aided in an initiative to...

Good Planets Are Hard To Find! Ecology Action Workbook and Dictionary.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bazar, Ronald M.; Dehr, Roma

Even though the condition of the planet is a serious subject, becoming ecologically aware and active can be fun. This workbook provides ecologically conscious-raising activities that children can do at home or with others. A series of worksheets guides students through eight activities including: (1) assessing community resources and environmental…

Disturbance ecology and forest management: A review of the literature

Treesearch

Paul Rogers

1996-01-01

This review of the disturbance ecology literature, and how it pertains to forest management, is a resource for forest managers and researchers interested in disturbance theory, specific disturbance agents, their interactions, and appropriate methods of inquiry for specific geographic regions. Implications for the future of disturbance ecology-based management are...

Ecological modeling for forest management in the Shawnee National Forest

Treesearch

Richard G. Thurau; J.F. Fralish; S. Hupe; B. Fitch; A.D. Carver

2008-01-01

Land managers of the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois are challenged to meet the needs of a diverse populace of stakeholders. By classifying National Forest holdings into management units, U.S. Forest Service personnel can spatially allocate resources and services to meet local management objectives. Ecological Classification Systems predict ecological site...

A book review of Spatial data analysis in ecology and agriculture using R

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Spatial Data Analysis in Ecology and Agriculture Using R is a valuable resource to assist agricultural and ecological researchers with spatial data analyses using the R statistical software(www.r-project.org). Special emphasis is on spatial data sets; how-ever, the text also provides ample guidance ...

Evolving Approaches and Technologies to Enhance the Role of Ecological Modeling in Decision Making

Treesearch

Eric Gustafson; John Nestler; Louis Gross; Keith M. Reynolds; Daniel Yaussy; Thomas P. Maxwell; Virginia H. Dale

2002-01-01

Understanding the effects of management activities is difficult for natural resource managers and decision makers because ecological systems are highly complex and their behavior is difficult to predict. Furthermore, the empirical studies necessary to illuminate all management questions quickly become logistically complicated and cost prohibitive. Ecological models...

How long can global ecological overshoot last?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McBain, Bonnie; Lenzen, Manfred; Wackernagel, Mathis; Albrecht, Glenn

2017-08-01

The ability of the Ecological Footprint to communicate complex environmental information in a clear and accessible way is well known; however, with growing environmental complexity, we will require increasingly sophisticated environmental indicators to inform our decisions. We have developed an integrated and dynamic global model to investigate future trajectories of the Ecological Footprint. Under a range of futures and without the mitigation of human resource demand, we find that the discrepancy between global demand and renewable supply of resources is likely to increase. Continued overshoot, although possible in the short term, means the global community is increasingly exposed to risks of environmental collapse due to the approach of at least two planetary boundaries relating to land use expansion and climate change. We show that, the Ecological Footprint trajectory and the time between the commencement of ecological overshoot and ecological collapse is sensitive to global technological, economic and population policy decisions. Importantly, this work presents a tool which can be used to support transdisciplinary decision-maker collaborations examining the risk associated with alternative policy options in the face of uncertainty at multiple scales.

An empirical model of the Baltic Sea reveals the importance of social dynamics for ecological regime shifts.

PubMed

Lade, Steven J; Niiranen, Susa; Hentati-Sundberg, Jonas; Blenckner, Thorsten; Boonstra, Wiebren J; Orach, Kirill; Quaas, Martin F; Österblom, Henrik; Schlüter, Maja

2015-09-01

Regime shifts triggered by human activities and environmental changes have led to significant ecological and socioeconomic consequences in marine and terrestrial ecosystems worldwide. Ecological processes and feedbacks associated with regime shifts have received considerable attention, but human individual and collective behavior is rarely treated as an integrated component of such shifts. Here, we used generalized modeling to develop a coupled social-ecological model that integrated rich social and ecological data to investigate the role of social dynamics in the 1980s Baltic Sea cod boom and collapse. We showed that psychological, economic, and regulatory aspects of fisher decision making, in addition to ecological interactions, contributed both to the temporary persistence of the cod boom and to its subsequent collapse. These features of the social-ecological system also would have limited the effectiveness of stronger fishery regulations. Our results provide quantitative, empirical evidence that incorporating social dynamics into models of natural resources is critical for understanding how resources can be managed sustainably. We also show that generalized modeling, which is well-suited to collaborative model development and does not require detailed specification of causal relationships between system variables, can help tackle the complexities involved in creating and analyzing social-ecological models.

An empirical model of the Baltic Sea reveals the importance of social dynamics for ecological regime shifts

PubMed Central

Lade, Steven J.; Niiranen, Susa; Hentati-Sundberg, Jonas; Blenckner, Thorsten; Boonstra, Wiebren J.; Orach, Kirill; Quaas, Martin F.; Österblom, Henrik; Schlüter, Maja

2015-01-01

Regime shifts triggered by human activities and environmental changes have led to significant ecological and socioeconomic consequences in marine and terrestrial ecosystems worldwide. Ecological processes and feedbacks associated with regime shifts have received considerable attention, but human individual and collective behavior is rarely treated as an integrated component of such shifts. Here, we used generalized modeling to develop a coupled social–ecological model that integrated rich social and ecological data to investigate the role of social dynamics in the 1980s Baltic Sea cod boom and collapse. We showed that psychological, economic, and regulatory aspects of fisher decision making, in addition to ecological interactions, contributed both to the temporary persistence of the cod boom and to its subsequent collapse. These features of the social–ecological system also would have limited the effectiveness of stronger fishery regulations. Our results provide quantitative, empirical evidence that incorporating social dynamics into models of natural resources is critical for understanding how resources can be managed sustainably. We also show that generalized modeling, which is well-suited to collaborative model development and does not require detailed specification of causal relationships between system variables, can help tackle the complexities involved in creating and analyzing social–ecological models. PMID:26283344

A review and synthesis of recreation ecology research findings on visitor impacts to wilderness and protected natural areas

USGS Publications Warehouse

Marion, Jeff; Leung, Yu-Fai; Eagleston, Holly; Burroughs, Kaitlin

2016-01-01

The 50th anniversary of the US Wilderness Act of 1964 presents a worthy opportunity to review our collective knowledge on how recreation visitation affects wilderness and protected natural area resources. Studies of recreation impacts, examined within the recreation ecology field of study, have spanned 80 years and generated more than 1,200 citations. This article examines the recreation ecology literature most relevant to wilderness and backcountry, with a focus on visitor impacts to vegetation, soil, wildlife, and water resources. We also review relationships with influential factors, such as the amount of use, visitor behavior, and vegetation type. An understanding of these impacts and their relationships with influential factors is necessary for land managers seeking to identify acceptable limits of impact or selecting management actions that will effectively avoid or minimize resource impacts.

[Applied ecology: retrospect and prospect].

PubMed

He, Xingyuan; Zeng, Dehui

2004-10-01

Applied ecology is evolved into a principal part of modern ecology that rapidly develops. The major stimulus for the development of applied ecology roots in seeking the solutions for the problems of human populations, resources and environments. Through four decades, the science of applied ecology has been becoming a huge group of disciplines. The future for the applied ecology should concern more with human-influenced and managed ecosystems, and acknowledge humans as the components of ecosystems. Nowadays and in future, the top-priorities in applied ecology should include following fields: sustainable ecosystems and biosphere, ecosystem services and ecological design, ecological assessment of genetically modified organisms, ecology of biological invasions, epidemical ecology, ecological forecasting, ecological process and its control. The authors believe that the comprehensive and active research hotspots coupled some new traits would occur around these fields in foreseeable future.

[Process of land use transition and its impact on regional ecological quality in the Middle Reaches of Heihe River, China].

PubMed

Wang, Fu Hong; Zhao, Rui Feng; Zhang, Li Hua; Li, Hong Wei

2017-12-01

Land use transition is one of the main drivers of regional ecosystem change in arid area, which directly affects human well-being. Based on the satellite images of 1987, 2001 and 2016, the change detection assessment model and ecological response model were used to analyze the process of land use transition and response of ecological quality during 1987-2016 in the ecologically fragile middle reaches of the Heihe River. The results showed that the land use change was significant during 1987-2016 and the total change increased significantly, as well as the continuous increase of the cultivated land and construction land. There was a strong tendency of transform from grassland to cultivated land, while the tendency of transforming unused land to other land classes was not strong under a random process of gain or loss. During 1987-2016, the ecological quality of the study area displayed a decreasing trend as a whole and the ecological land decreased by 2.8%. The land use transition with the greatest impact on the ecological environment degradation was the transition of the grassland to the cultivated land and unused land. Therefore, in order to promote the sustainable use of regional land resources and to improve the regional ecological quality, it is necessary to allocate the proportion of production land and ecological land according to the regional water resources.

Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF)

MedlinePlus

... Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) [PDF – 2 pages] Virus Ecology Viral Hemorrhagic Fever (VHF) Information for Specific Groups ... Diagnosis Treatment Prevention Outbreak Distribution Map Resources Virus Ecology File Formats Help: How do I view different ...

Mass and energy budgets of animals: Behavioral and ecological implications. Annual technical progress report, April 1, 1992--March 31, 1993

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

Porter, W.P.

1993-07-01

The common goal of these diverse projects is to understand the mechanisms of how animal populations respond to the continual changes in their environment in both time and space. Our models are mechanistic allowing us to explore how a wide array of environmental variables may determine individual performance. Large scale climate change and its effect on animal populations can be seen as quantitative extensions of biological responses to smaller scales of environmental variability. Changes in developmental rates or reproductive levels of individuals, extension or contraction of geographic ranges, and modification of community organization have all been documented in response tomore » previous changes in habitats. We know from our biophysical work that some changes in function are driven by microclimate conditions directly, and some are mediated indirectly through ecological parameters such as the food supply. Our research is guided by a comprehensive conceptual scheme of the interaction of an animal with its environment. The physical and physiological properties of the organism, and the range of available microclimates, set bounds on the performance of organismal function, such as growth, reproduction, storage, and behavior. To leave the most offspring over a lifetime, animals must perform those functions in a way that maximizes the amount of resources devoted to reproduction. Maximizing the total size of the budget and minimizing those budget items not devoted to reproduction are crucial. Animals trade off among expenditures for current and future reproduction. Both water and energy are important, potentially limiting resources. Projects described here include empirical studies and theoretical models.« less

The Loss of Biodiversity as a Challenge for Sustainable Development: How Do Pupils in Chile and Germany Perceive Resource Dilemmas?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Menzel, Susanne; Bögeholz, Susanne

2009-08-01

The topic of biodiversity is of high value for education for sustainable development as it reflects the interaction of ecological, economic and social issues particularly well. Especially in so-called biodiversity hotspots, among them Chile, natural resources are often depleted for economic interest which, in many cases, is required income. Therefore, economic and social aspects must be considered in order to fully understand biodiversity loss. Being such an important issue, it is surprising that little is known thus far about learning prerequisites concerning biodiversity. This paper presents a qualitative interview study that investigated 16 to 18-year-old Chilean and German learners’ perception of biodiversity and its loss ( n = 24). Firstly, the pupils’ cognitive frameworks were analysed. Secondly, subjective theories about biodiversity loss due to resource dilemmas were explored. Three subjective theories that emerged from the data reflected the notion that most pupils focused on either ecological or economic aspects of biodiversity loss. Pupils who concentrated on ecological aspects often referred to incorrect ecological facts. Moreover, these pupils showed difficulties in developing empathy and solidarity with impoverished people, who depend economically on plants in a resource dilemma. A smaller group of pupils succeeded in integrating the ecological, economic, and social aspects. Regarding the two samples, Chilean pupils seemed to have greater difficulties in recognising the social aspects of biodiversity loss, while German pupils were largely unaware of biodiversity loss on a local level. Implications for biodiversity education and future research will be outlined and discussed.

Foundations of translational ecology

USGS Publications Warehouse

Enquist, Carolyn A. F.; Jackson, Stephen T.; Garfin, Gregg M.; Davis, Frank W.; Gerber, Leah R.; Littell, Jeremy; Tank, Jennifer L.; Terando, Adam; Wall, Tamara U.; Halpern, Benjamin S.; Morelli, Toni L.; Hiers, J. Kevin; McNie, Elizabeth; Stephenson, Nathan L.; Williamson, Matthew A.; Woodhouse, Connie A.; Yung, Laurie; Brunson, Mark W.; Hall, Kimberly R.; Hallett, Lauren M.; Lawson, Dawn M.; Moritz, Max A.; Nydick, Koren R.; Pairis, Amber; Ray, Andrea J.; Regan, Claudia M.; Safford, Hugh D.; Schwartz, Mark W.; Shaw, M. Rebecca

2017-01-01

Ecologists who specialize in translational ecology (TE) seek to link ecological knowledge to decision making by integrating ecological science with the full complement of social dimensions that underlie today's complex environmental issues. TE is motivated by a search for outcomes that directly serve the needs of natural resource managers and decision makers. This objective distinguishes it from both basic and applied ecological research and, as a practice, it deliberately extends research beyond theory or opportunistic applications. TE is uniquely positioned to address complex issues through interdisciplinary team approaches and integrated scientist–practitioner partnerships. The creativity and context‐specific knowledge of resource managers, practitioners, and decision makers inform and enrich the scientific process and help shape use‐driven, actionable science. Moreover, addressing research questions that arise from on‐the‐ground management issues – as opposed to the top‐down or expert‐oriented perspectives of traditional science – can foster the high levels of trust and commitment that are critical for long‐term, sustained engagement between partners.

Land use change around protected areas: management to balance human needs and ecological function.

PubMed

DeFries, Ruth; Hansen, Andrew; Turner, B L; Reid, Robin; Liu, Jianguo

2007-06-01

Protected areas throughout the world are key for conserving biodiversity, and land use is key for providing food, fiber, and other ecosystem services essential for human sustenance. As land use change isolates protected areas from their surrounding landscapes, the challenge is to identify management opportunities that maintain ecological function while minimizing restrictions on human land use. Building on the case studies in this Invited Feature and on ecological principles, we identify opportunities for regional land management that maintain both ecological function in protected areas and human land use options, including preserving crucial habitats and migration corridors, and reducing dependence of local human populations on protected area resources. Identification of appropriate and effective management opportunities depends on clear definitions of: (1) the biodiversity attributes of concern; (2) landscape connections to delineate particular locations with strong ecological interactions between the protected area and its surrounding landscape; and (3) socioeconomic dynamics that determine current and future use of land resources in and around the protected area.

How Resource Dependency Can Influence Social Resilience within a Primary Resource Industry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marshall, N. A.; Fenton, D. M.; Marshall, P. A.; Sutton, S. G.

2007-01-01

Maintaining a healthy balance between human prosperity and environmental integrity is at the core of the principles of Ecological Sustainable Development. Resource-protection policies are frequently implemented so as to regulate the balance between resource access and use, however, they can inadvertently compromise the ability of resource users to…

Movement ecology: size-specific behavioral response of an invasive snail to food availability.

PubMed

Snider, Sunny B; Gilliam, James F

2008-07-01

Immigration, emigration, migration, and redistribution describe processes that involve movement of individuals. These movements are an essential part of contemporary ecological models, and understanding how movement is affected by biotic and abiotic factors is important for effectively modeling ecological processes that depend on movement. We asked how phenotypic heterogeneity (body size) and environmental heterogeneity (food resource level) affect the movement behavior of an aquatic snail (Tarebia granifera), and whether including these phenotypic and environmental effects improves advection-diffusion models of movement. We postulated various elaborations of the basic advection diffusion model as a priori working hypotheses. To test our hypotheses we measured individual snail movements in experimental streams at high- and low-food resource treatments. Using these experimental movement data, we examined the dependency of model selection on resource level and body size using Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC). At low resources, large individuals moved faster than small individuals, producing a platykurtic movement distribution; including size dependency in the model improved model performance. In stark contrast, at high resources, individuals moved upstream together as a wave, and body size differences largely disappeared. The model selection exercise indicated that population heterogeneity is best described by the advection component of movement for this species, because the top-ranked model included size dependency in advection, but not diffusion. Also, all probable models included resource dependency. Thus population and environmental heterogeneities both influence individual movement behaviors and the population-level distribution kernels, and their interaction may drive variation in movement behaviors in terms of both advection rates and diffusion rates. A behaviorally informed modeling framework will integrate the sentient response of individuals in terms of movement and enhance our ability to accurately model ecological processes that depend on animal movement.

Adult age differences in information foraging in an interactive reading environment.

PubMed

Liu, Xiaomei; Chin, Jessie; Payne, Brennan R; Fu, Wai-Tat; Morrow, Daniel G; Stine-Morrow, Elizabeth A L

2016-05-01

When learning about a single topic in natural reading environments, readers are confronted with multiple sources varying in the type and amount of information. In this situation, readers are free to adaptively respond to the constraints of the environment (e.g., through selection of resources and time allocation for study), but there may be costs of exploring and switching between sources (e.g., disruption of attention, opportunity costs for study). From an ecological perspective, such properties of the environment are expected to influence learning strategies. In the current study, we used a novel reading paradigm to investigate age differences in the effects of information richness (i.e., sentence elaboration) and costs of switching between texts (i.e., time delay) on selection of sources and study time allocation. Consistent with the ecological view, participants progressed from less informative to more informative texts. Furthermore, increased switch cost led to a tendency to allocate more effort to easier materials and to greater persistence in reading, which in turn, led to better memory in both immediate and delayed recall. Older adults showed larger effects of switch cost, such that the age difference in delayed recall was eliminated in the high switch cost condition. Based on an ecological paradigm of reading that affords choice and self-regulation, our study provided evidence for preservation with age in the ability to adapt to changing learning environments so as to improve performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

[Ecological memory and its potential applications in ecology: a review].

PubMed

Sun, Zhong-yu; Ren, Hai

2011-03-01

Ecological memory (EM) is defined as the capability of the past states or experiences of a community to influence the present or future ecological responses of the community. As a relatively new concept, EM has received considerable attention in the study of ecosystem structure and function, such as community succession, ecological restoration, biological invasion, and natural resource management. This review summarized the definition, components, and categories of EM, and discussed the possible mechanisms and affecting factors of EM. Also, the potential applications of EM were proposed, in order to further understand the mechanisms of community succession and to guide ecological restoration.

Theoretical ecology as etiological from the start.

PubMed

Donhauser, Justin

2016-12-01

The world's leading environmental advisory institutions look to ecological theory and research as an objective guide for policy and resource management decision-making. In addition to the theoretical and broadly philosophical merits of doing so, it is therefore practically significant to clear up confusions about ecology's conceptual foundations and to clarify the basic workings of inferential methods used in the science. Through discussion of key moments in the genesis of the theoretical branch of ecology, this essay elucidates a general heuristic role of teleological metaphors in ecological research and defuses certain enduring confusions about work in ecology. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Workshop: Valuation for Environmental Policy: Ecological Benefits (2007)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Two-day workshop includes research examining There were presentations on the estimation of values for ecological goods and services such as water quality, wetlands, riparian habitat, and aquatic resources, improved methods for benefits transfer.

30 CFR 947.773 - Requirements for permits and permit processing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... regulations: (1) Department of Ecology: Surface Water Rights Permit, RCW 90.03.250 Dam Safety Approval, RCW 90... deny a permit application to the Washington Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Ecology...

30 CFR 947.773 - Requirements for permits and permit processing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... regulations: (1) Department of Ecology: Surface Water Rights Permit, RCW 90.03.250 Dam Safety Approval, RCW 90... deny a permit application to the Washington Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Ecology...

75 FR 81560 - Buckhorn Exploration Project 2010, Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, Okanogan County, Washington

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-28

... of the Interior; and Department of Ecology, Washington State. On November 26, 2010, the Department of... (BLM), Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR), and Washington Department of Ecology...

EMAP/NOAA 2003 SURVEY OF ECOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF THE WESTERN U.S. CONTINENTAL SHELF, INCLUDING GULF OF FARALLONES NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY

EPA Science Inventory

In June of 2003 a partnership between EPA, NOAA, and the western coastal states conducted a joint survey of ecological condition of aquatic resources along the U.S. western continental shelf (30-120 m), using multiple indicators of ecological condition. The study is an element o...

Ecological Impacts of Southern Pine Beetle

Treesearch

Maria D. Tchakerian; Robert N. Coulson

2011-01-01

The southern pine beetle (SPB) is the most important biotic disturbance in southern pine forests and causes extensive changes to the forest environment. In this chapter we provide an overview of the ecological impacts of the SPB on forest conditions (the state of the forest) and on forest resources (uses and values associated with the forest). We define ecological...

75 FR 69138 - Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact Related to Exemption of Material...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-11-10

... low-activity radioactive debris, at the US Ecology Idaho (USEI) Resource Conservation and Recovery Act... for the disposal of waste from the HBPP at the US Ecology Idaho (USEI) facility in accordance with 10... Ecology Idaho.'' [ADAMS Accession Number ML101170554] (2) E-Mail dated August 11, 2010, providing...

Different social drivers, including perceptions of urban wildlife, explain the ecological resources in residential landscapes

Treesearch

J. Amy Belaire; Lynne M. Westphal; Emily S. Minor

2016-01-01

The conservation value of residential landscapes is becoming increasingly apparent in our urbanizing world. The ecological characteristics of residential areas are largely determined by the decisions of many individual "managers." In these complex socio-ecological systems, it is important to understand the factors that motivate human decision-making. Our...

75 FR 34792 - Westinghouse Electric Company, LLC; License Amendment Request, Opportunity To Provide Comments...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-18

... transfer decommissioning waste to U.S. Ecology Idaho, Inc., a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Subtitle C disposal facility located near Grand View, Idaho. The U.S. Ecology Idaho facility is regulated... CFR 30.11 and 70.17, WEC's application also requests that U.S. Ecology be granted exemptions from the...

Interactions between temperature and nutrients across levels of ecological organization.

PubMed

Cross, Wyatt F; Hood, James M; Benstead, Jonathan P; Huryn, Alexander D; Nelson, Daniel

2015-03-01

Temperature and nutrient availability play key roles in controlling the pathways and rates at which energy and materials move through ecosystems. These factors have also changed dramatically on Earth over the past century as human activities have intensified. Although significant effort has been devoted to understanding the role of temperature and nutrients in isolation, less is known about how these two factors interact to influence ecological processes. Recent advances in ecological stoichiometry and metabolic ecology provide a useful framework for making progress in this area, but conceptual synthesis and review are needed to help catalyze additional research. Here, we examine known and potential interactions between temperature and nutrients from a variety of physiological, community, and ecosystem perspectives. We first review patterns at the level of the individual, focusing on four traits--growth, respiration, body size, and elemental content--that should theoretically govern how temperature and nutrients interact to influence higher levels of biological organization. We next explore the interactive effects of temperature and nutrients on populations, communities, and food webs by synthesizing information related to community size spectra, biomass distributions, and elemental composition. We use metabolic theory to make predictions about how population-level secondary production should respond to interactions between temperature and resource supply, setting up qualitative predictions about the flows of energy and materials through metazoan food webs. Last, we examine how temperature-nutrient interactions influence processes at the whole-ecosystem level, focusing on apparent vs. intrinsic activation energies of ecosystem processes, how to represent temperature-nutrient interactions in ecosystem models, and patterns with respect to nutrient uptake and organic matter decomposition. We conclude that a better understanding of interactions between temperature and nutrients will be critical for developing realistic predictions about ecological responses to multiple, simultaneous drivers of global change, including climate warming and elevated nutrient supply. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Linking niche theory to ecological impacts of successful invaders: insights from resource fluctuation-specialist herbivore interactions.

PubMed

Gidoin, Cindy; Roques, Lionel; Boivin, Thomas

2015-03-01

Theories of species coexistence and invasion ecology are fundamentally connected and provide a common theoretical framework for studying the mechanisms underlying successful invasions and their ecological impacts. Temporal fluctuations in resource availability and differences in life-history traits between invasive and resident species are considered as likely drivers of the dynamics of invaded communities. Current critical issues in invasion ecology thus relate to the extent to which such mechanisms influence coexistence between invasive and resident species and to the ability of resident species to persist in an invasive-dominated ecosystem. We tested how a fluctuating resource, and species trait differences may explain and help predict long-term impacts of biological invasions in forest specialist insect communities. We used a simple invasion system comprising closely related invasive and resident seed-specialized wasps (Hymenoptera: Torymidae) competing for a well-known fluctuating resource and displaying divergent diapause, reproductive and phenological traits. Based on extensive long-term field observations (1977-2010), we developed a combination of mechanistic and statistical models aiming to (i) obtain a realistic description of the population dynamics of these interacting species over time, and (ii) clarify the respective contributions of fluctuation-dependent and fluctuation-independent mechanisms to long-term impact of invasion on the population dynamics of the resident wasp species. We showed that a fluctuation-dependent mechanism was unable to promote coexistence of the resident and invasive species. Earlier phenology of the invasive species was the main driver of invasion success, enabling the invader to exploit an empty niche. Phenology also had the greatest power to explain the long-term negative impact of the invasive on the resident species, through resource pre-emption. This study provides strong support for the critical role of species differences in interspecific competition outcomes within animal communities. Our mechanistic-statistical approach disentangles the critical drivers of novel species assemblages resulting from intentional and non-intentional introductions of non-native species. © 2014 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2014 British Ecological Society.

Enhancing Schools’ Capacity to Support Children in Poverty: An Ecological Model of School-Based Mental Health Services

PubMed Central

Frazier, Stacy L.; Atkins, Marc S.; Schoenwald, Sonja K.; Glisson, Charles

2013-01-01

School based mental health services for children in poverty can capitalize on schools’ inherent capacity to support development and bridge home and neighborhood ecologies. We propose an ecological model informed by public health and organizational theories to refocus school based services in poor communities on the core function of schools to promote learning. We describe how coalescing mental health resources around school goals includes a focus on universal programming, mobilizing indigenous school and community resources, and supporting core teaching technologies. We suggest an iterative research–practice approach to program adaptation and implementation as a means toward advancing science and developing healthy children. PMID:18581225

Establishing Minimum Flow Requirements Based on Benthic Vegetation: What are Some Issues Related to Identifying Quantity of Inflow and Tools Used to Quantify Ecosystem Response?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hunt, M. J.; Nuttle, W. K.; Cosby, B. J.; Marshall, F. E.

2005-05-01

Establishing minimum flow requirements in aquatic ecosystems is one way to stipulate controls on water withdrawals in a watershed. The basis of the determination is to identify the amount of flow needed to sustain a threshold ecological function. To develop minimum flow criteria an understanding of ecological response in relation to flow is essential. Several steps are needed including: (1) identification of important resources and ecological functions, (2) compilation of available information, (3) determination of historical conditions, (4) establishment of technical relationships between inflow and resources, and (5) identification of numeric criteria that reflect the threshold at which resources are harmed. The process is interdisciplinary requiring the integration of hydrologic and ecologic principles with quantitative assessments. The tools used quantify the ecological response and key questions related to how the quantity of flow influences the ecosystem are examined by comparing minimum flow determination in two different aquatic systems in South Florida. Each system is characterized by substantial hydrologic alteration. The first, the Caloosahatchee River is a riverine system, located on the southwest coast of Florida. The second, the Everglades- Florida Bay ecotone, is a wetland mangrove ecosystem, located on the southern tip of the Florida peninsula. In both cases freshwater submerged aquatic vegetation (Vallisneria americana or Ruppia maritima), located in areas of the saltwater- freshwater interface has been identified as a basis for minimum flow criteria. The integration of field studies, laboratory studies, and literature review was required. From this information we developed ecological modeling tools to quantify and predict plant growth in response to varying environmental variables. Coupled with hydrologic modeling tools questions relating to the quantity and timing of flow and ecological consequences in relation to normal variability are addressed.

Observing earth from Skylab

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1975-01-01

Skylab technology and observations of earth resources are discussed. Special attention was given to application of Skylab data to mapmaking, geology/geodesy, water resources, oceanography, meteorology, and geography/ecology.

Evaluation of Natural Resource Education Materials: Implications for Resource Management.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pomerantz, Gerri A.

1991-01-01

An analysis of elementary school natural resource lessons (n=700) that focus on ecological principles, on resource management issues, and on analytical skill development affecting students' environmental behavior is presented. The fundamental conclusion is that very few of the lesson materials help to develop critical thinking skills and behaviors…

[Regional ecological planning and ecological network construction: a case study of "Ji Triangle" Region].

PubMed

Li, Bo; Han, Zeng-Lin; Tong, Lian-Jun

2009-05-01

By the methods of in situ investigation and regional ecological planning, the present ecological environment, ecosystem vulnerability, and ecological environment sensitivity in "Ji Triangle" Region were analyzed, and the ecological network of the study area was constructed. According to the ecological resources abundance degree, ecological recovery, farmland windbreak system, environmental carrying capacity, forestry foundation, and ecosystem integrity, the study area was classified into three regional ecological function ecosystems, i. e., east low hill ecosystem, middle plain ecosystem, and west plain wetland ecosystem. On the basis of marking regional ecological nodes, the regional ecological corridor (Haerbin-Dalian regional axis, Changchun-Jilin, Changchun-Songyuan, Jilin-Songyuan, Jilin-Siping, and Songyuan-Siping transportation corridor) and regional ecological network (one ring, three links, and three belts) were constructed. Taking the requests of regional ecological security into consideration, the ecological environment security system of "Ji Triangle" Region, including regional ecological conservation district, regional ecological restored district, and regional ecological management district, was built.

Ecological resource management: A call to arms

USGS Publications Warehouse

Emlen, J.M.; Kapustka, Lawrence; Barnthouse, L.; Beyer, N.; Biddinger, G.; Kedwards, T.; Landis, W.; Menzie, C.; Munns, W.; Sorenson, M.; Wentsel, R.

2002-01-01

As the human population enlarges, it becomes increasingly difficult to sustain valued ecological resources. Human use of resources, whether it is the harvest of ocean fisheries, logging of forests, or farming of arable lands, has resulted in significant population declines in many wildlife species. The growth of urban areas and the expansion of impermeable surfaces alter landscape diversity and modify hydrologic patterns in ways that decrease habitat quality for many desired plant, fish, and wildlife species. Impaired water, air, and soil quality related to industrial, municipal, and agricultural activities have altered the composition of aquatic and terrestrial communities.

Permanent Genetic Resources added to Molecular Ecology Resources Database 1 October 2011 – 30 November 2011

PubMed Central

ABREU, ALUANA G.; ALBAINA, A.; ALPERMANN, TILMAN J.; APKENAS, VANESSA E.; BANKHEAD-DRONNET, S.; BERGEK, SARA; BERUMEN, MICHAEL L.; CHO, CHANG-HUNG; CLOBERT, JEAN; COULON, AURÉLIE; DE FERAUDY, D.; ESTONBA, A.; HANKELN, THOMAS; HOCHKIRCH, AXEL; HSU, TSAI-WEN; HUANG, TSURNG-JUHN; IRIGOIEN, X.; IRIONDO, M.; KAY, KATHLEEN M.; KINITZ, TIM; KOTHERA, LINDA; LE HÉNANFF, MAXIME; LIEUTIER, F.; LOURDAIS, OLIVIER; MACRINI, CAMILA M. T.; MANZANO, C.; MARTIN, C.; MORRIS, VERONICA R. F.; NANNINGA, GERRIT; PARDO, M. A.; PLIESKE, JÖRG; POINTEAU, S.; PRESTEGAARD, TORE; QUACK, MARKUS; RICHARD, MURIELLE; SAVAGE, HARRY M.; SCHWARCZ, KAISER D.; SHADE, JESSICA; SIMMS, ELLEN L.; SOLFERINI, VERA N.; STEVENS, VIRGINIE M.; VEITH, MICHAEL; WEN, MEI-JUAN; WICKER, FLORIAN; YOST, JENNIFER M.; ZARRAONAINDIA, I.

2017-01-01

This article documents the addition of 139 microsatellite marker loci and 90 pairs of single-nucleotide polymorphism sequencing primers to the Molecular Ecology Resources Database. Loci were developed for the following species: Aglaoctenus lagotis, Costus pulverulentus, Costus scaber, Culex pipiens, Dascyllus marginatus, Lupinus nanus Benth, Phloeomyzus passerini, Podarcis muralis, Rhododendron rubropilosum Hayata var. taiwanalpinum and Zoarces viviparus. These loci were cross-tested on the following species: Culex quinquefasciatus, Rhododendron pseudochrysanthum Hay. ssp. morii (Hay.) Yamazaki and R. pseudochrysanthum Hayata. This article also documents the addition of 48 sequencing primer pairs and 90 allele-specific primers for Engraulis encrasicolus. PMID:22296658

Approaches to resource recovery in controlled ecological life support systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bubenheim, D. L.; Wydeven, T.

1994-01-01

Recovery of resources from waste streams in a space habitat is essential to minimize the resupply burden and achieve self sufficiency. The ultimate goal of a Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) is to achieve the greatest practical level of mass recycle and provide self sufficiency and safety for humans. Several mission scenarios leading to the ultimate application could employ CELSS component technologies or subsystems with initial emphasis on recycle of the largest mass components of the waste stream. Candidate physical/chemical and biological processes for resource recovery from liquid and solid waste streams are discussed and the current fundamental recovery potentials are estimated.

Improving the integration of recreation management with management of other natural resources by applying concepts of scale from ecology.

PubMed

Morse, Wayde C; Hall, Troy E; Kruger, Linda E

2009-03-01

In this article, we examine how issues of scale affect the integration of recreation management with the management of other natural resources on public lands. We present two theories used to address scale issues in ecology and explore how they can improve the two most widely applied recreation-planning frameworks. The theory of patch dynamics and hierarchy theory are applied to the recreation opportunity spectrum (ROS) and the limits of acceptable change (LAC) recreation-planning frameworks. These frameworks have been widely adopted internationally, and improving their ability to integrate with other aspects of natural resource management has significant social and conservation implications. We propose that incorporating ecologic criteria and scale concepts into these recreation-planning frameworks will improve the foundation for integrated land management by resolving issues of incongruent boundaries, mismatched scales, and multiple-scale analysis. Specifically, we argue that whereas the spatially explicit process of the ROS facilitates integrated decision making, its lack of ecologic criteria, broad extent, and large patch size decrease its usefulness for integration at finer scales. The LAC provides explicit considerations for weighing competing values, but measurement of recreation disturbances within an LAC analysis is often done at too fine a grain and at too narrow an extent for integration with other recreation and resource concerns. We suggest that planners should perform analysis at multiple scales when making management decisions that involve trade-offs among competing values. The United States Forest Service is used as an example to discuss how resource-management agencies can improve this integration.

Application of WATERSHED ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT Methods to Watershed Management

EPA Science Inventory

Watersheds are frequently used to study and manage environmental resources because hydrologic boundaries define the flow of contaminants and other stressors. Ecological assessments of watersheds are complex because watersheds typically overlap multiple jurisdictional boundaries,...

75 FR 53979 - Bison Brucellosis Remote Vaccination, Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Yellowstone National...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-02

... CONTACT: The Bison Ecology and Management Office, Yellowstone National Park, P.O. Box 168, Yellowstone... comments to the Bison Ecology and Management Office, Center for Resources, P.O. Box 168, Yellowstone...

Application of Watershed Ecological Risk Assessment Methods to Watershed Management

EPA Science Inventory

Watersheds are frequently used to study and manage environmental resources because hydrologic boundaries define the flow of contaminants and other stressors. Ecological assessments of watersheds are complex because watersheds typically overlap multiple jurisdictional boundaries,...

Translating Ecological Risk to Ecosystem Service Loss

EPA Science Inventory

Hazardous site management in the US includes remediation of contaminated environmental media and restoration of injured natural resources. Site remediation decisions are informed by ecological risk assessment (ERA), while restoration and compensation decisions are informed by th...

Managing aquatic ecosystems and water resources under multiple stress--an introduction to the MARS project.

PubMed

Hering, Daniel; Carvalho, Laurence; Argillier, Christine; Beklioglu, Meryem; Borja, Angel; Cardoso, Ana Cristina; Duel, Harm; Ferreira, Teresa; Globevnik, Lidija; Hanganu, Jenica; Hellsten, Seppo; Jeppesen, Erik; Kodeš, Vit; Solheim, Anne Lyche; Nõges, Tiina; Ormerod, Steve; Panagopoulos, Yiannis; Schmutz, Stefan; Venohr, Markus; Birk, Sebastian

2015-01-15

Water resources globally are affected by a complex mixture of stressors resulting from a range of drivers, including urban and agricultural land use, hydropower generation and climate change. Understanding how stressors interfere and impact upon ecological status and ecosystem services is essential for developing effective River Basin Management Plans and shaping future environmental policy. This paper details the nature of these problems for Europe's water resources and the need to find solutions at a range of spatial scales. In terms of the latter, we describe the aims and approaches of the EU-funded project MARS (Managing Aquatic ecosystems and water Resources under multiple Stress) and the conceptual and analytical framework that it is adopting to provide this knowledge, understanding and tools needed to address multiple stressors. MARS is operating at three scales: At the water body scale, the mechanistic understanding of stressor interactions and their impact upon water resources, ecological status and ecosystem services will be examined through multi-factorial experiments and the analysis of long time-series. At the river basin scale, modelling and empirical approaches will be adopted to characterise relationships between multiple stressors and ecological responses, functions, services and water resources. The effects of future land use and mitigation scenarios in 16 European river basins will be assessed. At the European scale, large-scale spatial analysis will be carried out to identify the relationships amongst stress intensity, ecological status and service provision, with a special focus on large transboundary rivers, lakes and fish. The project will support managers and policy makers in the practical implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), of related legislation and of the Blueprint to Safeguard Europe's Water Resources by advising the 3rd River Basin Management Planning cycle, the revision of the WFD and by developing new tools for diagnosing and predicting multiple stressors. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Berry Outlook: Co-Producing Knowledge to Better Understand Changing Resources.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herman-Mercer, N. M.; Loehman, R.; Paniyak, C.; Toohey, R.; Tonuchuk, V., Jr.

2017-12-01

The Yukon-Kuskokwim (YK) Delta Berry Outlook is a collaborative, interdisciplinary project with the objective of understanding changing berry resources in the YK Delta. Berries are an important subsistence resource culturally and nutritionally for Alaska Natives as well as an important resource for the large migratory bird population in the Yukon Delta wildlife refuge. As such understanding berry resources is essential for human and bird populations and is of interest to communities and land managers alike. Partnering with Tribal Councils in four YK Delta communities, cultural consensus surveys were administered to explore local knowledge concerning ecological drivers of berry abundance and distribution. Cultural consensus surveys are a specific type of survey, in which respondents are asked a series of questions concerning a particular knowledge, here ecological drivers of berry resources. Surveys were administered in four Alaska Native villages concerning five prominent berry species. Respondents identified five ecological drivers, and results suggest that drivers are not uniform across berry species. For example, salmonberries were identified as ripening earlier in the season than in the past though the timing of other berry species has generally stayed the same. Additionally, respondents were asked to map harvesting locations for each of these berries and indicate if locations had changed over time. The resulting maps have allowed us to identify locations of high density harvesting for specific berries as well as the different distances traveled in different communities. Identifying important berry harvesting locations is critical for understanding location specific changes that may occur and have the potential to impact the abundance and distribution of berries. The survey and mapping results were used to inform ecological modelling and forecast potential berry responses to future climate scenarios. This presentation will focus on the results of combining data from these three methods and highlight how local observations and scientific data can be used together to co-produce knowledge of changing resources.

Changes in intrapopulation resource use patterns of an endangered raptor in response to a disease-mediated crash in prey abundance.

PubMed

Moleón, Marcos; Sebastián-González, Esther; Sánchez-Zapata, José A; Real, Joan; Pires, Mathias M; Gil-Sánchez, José M; Bautista, Jesús; Palma, Luís; Bayle, Patrick; Guimarães, Paulo R; Beja, Pedro

2012-11-01

1. A long-standing question in ecology is how natural populations respond to a changing environment. Emergent optimal foraging theory-based models for individual variation go beyond the population level and predict how its individuals would respond to disturbances that produce changes in resource availability. 2. Evaluating variations in resource use patterns at the intrapopulation level in wild populations under changing environmental conditions would allow to further advance in the research on foraging ecology and evolution by gaining a better idea of the underlying mechanisms explaining trophic diversity. 3. In this study, we use a large spatio-temporal scale data set (western continental Europe, 1968-2006) on the diet of Bonelli's Eagle Aquila fasciata breeding pairs to analyse the predator trophic responses at the intrapopulation level to a prey population crash. In particular, we borrow metrics from studies on network structure and intrapopulation variation to understand how an emerging infectious disease [the rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD)] that caused the density of the eagle's primary prey (rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus) to dramatically drop across Europe impacted on resource use patterns of this endangered raptor. 4. Following the major RHD outbreak, substantial changes in Bonelli's Eagle's diet diversity and organisation patterns at the intrapopulation level took place. Dietary variation among breeding pairs was larger after than before the outbreak. Before RHD, there were no clusters of pairs with similar diets, but significant clustering emerged after RHD. Moreover, diets at the pair level presented a nested pattern before RHD, but not after. 5. Here, we reveal how intrapopulation patterns of resource use can quantitatively and qualitatively vary, given drastic changes in resource availability. 6. For the first time, we show that a pathogen of a prey species can indirectly impact the intrapopulation patterns of resource use of an endangered predator. © 2012 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2012 British Ecological Society.

Environmental Sciences Division annual progress report for period ending September 30, 1983

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

Not Available

1984-04-01

This annual report summarizes activities in the Aquatic Ecology, Earth Sciences, Environmental Analyses, and Terrestrial Ecology sections, as well as in the Fossil Energy, Biomass, Low-Level Waste Research and Management, and Global Carbon Cycle Programs. Separate abstracts have been prepared for each section. (ACR)

Diet overlap and spatial segregation between two neotropical marsupials revealed by multiple analytical approaches

PubMed Central

Romero, Gustavo Quevedo; Linhares, Arício Xavier; Vizentin-Bugoni, Jeferson; Porto, Erica Aline Correa; Setz, Eleonore Zulnara Freire

2017-01-01

Species co-existence depends on how organisms utilize their environment and resources. When two sympatric species are similar in some ecological requirements, their coexistence may arise from differences in resource use over time and/or space. Interactions among coexisting marsupials remain poorly understood, especially in the Neotropics. Here we combine spatial niche measurements, individual-resource networks, and isotopic niche approaches, to investigate the ecological strategies used by the Neotropical marsupials Didelphis aurita and Metachirus nudicaudatus to co-occur in an area of Serra do Mar State Park (southeast of Brazil). Both individual-resource networks and isotopic niche approaches indicate similar patterns of omnivory for both species. Isotopic analysis showed the species’ trophic niche to be similar, with 52% of overlap, and no differences between proportional contributions of each resource to their diets. Moreover, individual-resource network analysis found no evidence of diet nestedness or segregation. The trophic niche overlap observed was associated with spatial segregation between species. Despite using the same area over the year, D. aurita and M. nudicaudatus exhibited spatial segregation among seasons. These results illustrate that the detection of spatial segregation is scale-dependent and must be carefully considered. In conclusion, our findings provide a new perspective on the ecology of these two Neotropical marsupials by illustrating how the association of distinct but complementary methods can be applied to reach a more complete understanding of resource partitioning and species coexistence. PMID:28704561

Construction of an evaluation index system of water resources bearing capacity: An empirical study in Xi’an, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qu, X. E.; Zhang, L. L.

2017-08-01

In this paper, a comprehensive evaluation of the water resources bearing capacity of Xi’an is performed. By constructing a comprehensive evaluation index system of the water resources bearing capacity that included water resources, economy, society, and ecological environment, we empirically studied the dynamic change and regional differences of the water resources bearing capacities of Xi’an districts through the TOPSIS method (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution). Results show that the water resources bearing capacity of Xi’an significantly increased over time, and the contributions of the subsystems from high to low are as follows: water resources subsystem, social subsystem, ecological subsystem, and economic subsystem. Furthermore, there are large differences between the water resources bearing capacities of the different districts in Xi’an. The water resources bearing capacities from high to low are urban areas, Huxian, Zhouzhi, Gaoling, and Lantian. Overall, the water resources bearing capacity of Xi’an is still at a the lower level, which is highly related to the scarcity of water resources, population pressure, insufficient water saving consciousness, irrational industrial structure, low water-use efficiency, and so on.

Research progress and harnessing method of soil and water loss in Pisha Sandstone region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiao, P. Q.; Yang, C. X.; Jing, C. R.

2018-05-01

Pisha Sandstone region is the most vulnerable and the most dramatic area of soil erosion, severe soil erosion on the ecological bases of China’s energy security constitutes a serious challenge. Research progress of soil erosion in pisha Sandstone region was reviewed based on the need of soil and water ecological construction in Pisha Sandstone region and harnessing the yellow river including soil erosion mechanism, soil erosion dynamic monitoring and soil erosion simulation assessments. Meanwhile, the latest progress of soil and water conservation measures was analyzed, and the existing problems and future harnessing measures of soil and water loss were discussed. This study is to explore the comprehensive management method and provide scientific theory for constructing soil and water conservation project in Pisha Sandstone region.

A new quantitative model of ecological compensation based on ecosystem capital in Zhejiang Province, China*

PubMed Central

Jin, Yan; Huang, Jing-feng; Peng, Dai-liang

2009-01-01

Ecological compensation is becoming one of key and multidiscipline issues in the field of resources and environmental management. Considering the change relation between gross domestic product (GDP) and ecological capital (EC) based on remote sensing estimation, we construct a new quantitative estimate model for ecological compensation, using county as study unit, and determine standard value so as to evaluate ecological compensation from 2001 to 2004 in Zhejiang Province, China. Spatial differences of the ecological compensation were significant among all the counties or districts. This model fills up the gap in the field of quantitative evaluation of regional ecological compensation and provides a feasible way to reconcile the conflicts among benefits in the economic, social, and ecological sectors. PMID:19353749

A new quantitative model of ecological compensation based on ecosystem capital in Zhejiang Province, China.

PubMed

Jin, Yan; Huang, Jing-feng; Peng, Dai-liang

2009-04-01

Ecological compensation is becoming one of key and multidiscipline issues in the field of resources and environmental management. Considering the change relation between gross domestic product (GDP) and ecological capital (EC) based on remote sensing estimation, we construct a new quantitative estimate model for ecological compensation, using county as study unit, and determine standard value so as to evaluate ecological compensation from 2001 to 2004 in Zhejiang Province, China. Spatial differences of the ecological compensation were significant among all the counties or districts. This model fills up the gap in the field of quantitative evaluation of regional ecological compensation and provides a feasible way to reconcile the conflicts among benefits in the economic, social, and ecological sectors.

Field Work in Ecology for Secondary Schools in Tropical Countries. Science and Technology Education Document Series No. 30.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelly, P. J., Ed.

One of the important aims of good biology teaching should be to encourage some basic understanding and appreciation of ecology. This understanding should include not only the scientific basis of ecology, but also its application for human welfare and, in particular, for rational exploitation and management of the natural environment and resources.…

Seeing the forest for the trees: hybridity and social-ecological symbols, rituals and resilience in postdisaster contexts

Treesearch

Keith G. Tidball

2014-01-01

The role of community-based natural resources management in the form of "greening" after large scale system shocks and surprises is argued to provide multiple benefits via engagement with living elements of social-ecological systems and subsequent enhanced resilience at multiple scales. The importance of so-called social-ecological symbols, especially the...

Ecological Education: What Resources Are There in Confucian Ethics?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nuyen, Anh Tuan

2008-01-01

Given the fact that ecological issues are global and the fact that a large part of humanity is rooted in the Confucian tradition, it is pertinent to ask what lessons can be learnt from Confucianism, in terms of both ecological education and the current debate in environmental ethics. In this paper I argue that while Confucian ethics cannot,…

Revegetation with native species: Proceedings, 1997 Society for Ecological Restoration annual meeting; 1997 November 12-15; Fort Lauderdale, FL

Treesearch

Larry K. Holzworth; Ray W. Brown

1999-01-01

The seven papers in this proceedings address the current state of knowledge and application of ecological restoration in the Western United States. They provide an overview of: rangeland revegetation lessons as they apply to ecological restoration today; USDI National Park Service, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Forest Service restoration strategies...

Environmental management: Integrating ecological evaluation, remediation, restoration, natural resource damage assessment and long-term stewardship on contaminated lands

PubMed Central

Burger, Joanna

2014-01-01

Ecological evaluation is essential for remediation, restoration, and Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA), and forms the basis for many management practices. These include determining status and trends of biological, physical, or chemical/radiological conditions, conducting environmental impact assessments, performing remedial actions should remediation fail, managing ecosystems and wildlife, and assessing the efficacy of remediation, restoration, and long-term stewardship. The objective of this paper is to explore the meanings of these assessments, examine the relationships among them, and suggest methods of integration that will move environmental management forward. While remediation, restoration, and NRDA, among others, are often conducted separately, it is important to integrate them for contaminated land where the risks to ecoreceptors (including humans) can be high, and the potential damage to functioning ecosystems great. Ecological evaluations can range from inventories of local plants and animals, determinations of reproductive success of particular species, levels of contaminants in organisms, kinds and levels of effects, and environmental impact assessments, to very formal ecological risk assessments for a chemical or other stressor. Such evaluations can range from the individual species to populations, communities, ecosystems or the landscape scale. Ecological evaluations serve as the basis for making decisions about the levels and kinds of remediation, the levels and kinds of restoration possible, and the degree and kinds of natural resource injuries that have occurred because of contamination. Many different disciplines are involved in ecological evaluation, including biologists, conservationists, foresters, restoration ecologists, ecological engineers, economists, hydrologist, and geologists. Since ecological evaluation forms the basis for so many different types of environmental management, it seems reasonable to integrate management options to achieve economies of time, energy, and costs. Integration and iteration among these disciplines is possible only with continued interactions among practitioners, regulators, policy-makers, Native American Tribes, and the general public. PMID:18687455

Use of Martian resources in a Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smernoff, David T.; Macelroy, Robert D.

1989-01-01

Possibile crew life support systems for Mars are reviewed, focusing on ways to use Martian resources as life support materials. A system for bioregenerative life support using photosynthetic organisms, known as the Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS), is examined. The possible use of higher plants or algae to produce oxygen on Mars is investigated. The specific requirements for a CELSS on Mars are considered. The exploitation of water, respiratory gases, and mineral nutrients on Mars is discussed.

Central Atlantic regional ecological test site

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alexander, R. H.

1972-01-01

The work of the Central Atlantic Regional Ecological Test Site (CARETS) project is discussed. The primary aim of CARETS is to test the hypothesis that data from ERTS-A can be made an integral part of a regional land resources information system, encompassing both inventory of the resource base and monitoring of changes, along with their effects on the quality of the environment. Another objective of the project is to determine scaling factors for developing land use information and regional analysis for regions of any given size.

Indigenous food ingredients for complementary food formulations to combat infant malnutrition in Benin: a review.

PubMed

Chadare, Flora J; Madode, Yann E; Fanou-Fogny, Nadia; Kindossi, Janvier M; Ayosso, Juvencio Og; Honfo, S Hermann; Kayodé, Ap Polycarpe; Linnemann, Anita R; Hounhouigan, D Joseph

2018-01-01

This paper reviews indigenous Beninese food resources as potential ingredients for complementary infant foods with the aim to develop affordable formulations for low-income households in each agro-ecological zone of the country. Potential ingredients were selected on their documented nutritional value. The selected foods encompass 347 food resources, namely 297 plant products from home gardens or collected from natural vegetation and 50 animals, either domesticated or from the wild. The compiled data reveal that the distribution of the available food resources was unbalanced between agro-ecological zones. Only a few animal ingredients are obtainable in northern Benin. Most resources are seasonal, but their availability may be extended. A high variation was observed in energy and nutrient contents. Antinutritional factors were identified in some resources, but processing techniques were reported to reduce their presence in meals. In general, ingredients from local tree foods (Adansonia digitata, Parkia biglobosa) were adequate as sources of nutrients for complementary infant foods. Based on this review, local foods for the development of complementary food formulas for Beninese infants and children may be selected for each agro-ecological zone. The approach used is exemplary for other sub-Saharan African countries in need of complementary infant foods. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Foreign trade and early industrialisation in the Habsburg Monarchy and the United Kingdom - Two extremes in comparison.

PubMed

Gingrich, Simone

2011-05-15

The concept of socio-ecological transitions is used to analyse the quantitative importance of physical imports and exports for the Habsburg Empire and the United Kingdom in the 19th and early 20th centuries. For the Habsburg Empire, a new dataset of foreign trade and social metabolism is presented. For the United Kingdom, the analysis relies on previously published data. Foreign trade volumes increased in both countries in the long run. Total trade volumes were much higher in the United Kingdom throughout the entire time period, on average by around a factor four. Physical factors explaining the disparities in structure and volume of foreign trade in the two countries are differences in (1) the temporal patterns of the socio-ecological transition and (2) domestic resource endowments. In both countries, energy carrying materials, i.e. fossil fuels and biomass, were the dominant resources in physical foreign trade. The analysis focuses on the physically most important material groups: coal, wood and cereals, and discusses the role of imports and exports in relation to domestic resource provision and environmental pressures. Physical foreign trade increased at a faster pace than domestic resource extraction and consumption. The socio-ecological transition was thus accompanied by rising international integration of resource supply.

Foreign trade and early industrialisation in the Habsburg Monarchy and the United Kingdom — Two extremes in comparison

PubMed Central

Gingrich, Simone

2011-01-01

The concept of socio–ecological transitions is used to analyse the quantitative importance of physical imports and exports for the Habsburg Empire and the United Kingdom in the 19th and early 20th centuries. For the Habsburg Empire, a new dataset of foreign trade and social metabolism is presented. For the United Kingdom, the analysis relies on previously published data. Foreign trade volumes increased in both countries in the long run. Total trade volumes were much higher in the United Kingdom throughout the entire time period, on average by around a factor four. Physical factors explaining the disparities in structure and volume of foreign trade in the two countries are differences in (1) the temporal patterns of the socio-ecological transition and (2) domestic resource endowments. In both countries, energy carrying materials, i.e. fossil fuels and biomass, were the dominant resources in physical foreign trade. The analysis focuses on the physically most important material groups: coal, wood and cereals, and discusses the role of imports and exports in relation to domestic resource provision and environmental pressures. Physical foreign trade increased at a faster pace than domestic resource extraction and consumption. The socio–ecological transition was thus accompanied by rising international integration of resource supply. PMID:21760665

Host specialist clownfishes are environmental niche generalists

PubMed Central

Litsios, Glenn; Kostikova, Anna; Salamin, Nicolas

2014-01-01

Why generalist and specialist species coexist in nature is a question that has interested evolutionary biologists for a long time. While the coexistence of specialists and generalists exploiting resources on a single ecological dimension has been theoretically and empirically explored, biological systems with multiple resource dimensions (e.g. trophic, ecological) are less well understood. Yet, such systems may provide an alternative to the classical theory of stable evolutionary coexistence of generalist and specialist species on a single resource dimension. We explore such systems and the potential trade-offs between different resource dimensions in clownfishes. All species of this iconic clade are obligate mutualists with sea anemones yet show interspecific variation in anemone host specificity. Moreover, clownfishes developed variable environmental specialization across their distribution. In this study, we test for the existence of a relationship between host-specificity (number of anemones associated with a clownfish species) and environmental-specificity (expressed as the size of the ecological niche breadth across climatic gradients). We find a negative correlation between host range and environmental specificities in temperature, salinity and pH, probably indicating a trade-off between both types of specialization forcing species to specialize only in a single direction. Trade-offs in a multi-dimensional resource space could be a novel way of explaining the coexistence of generalist and specialists. PMID:25274370

Delineating resource sheds in aquatic ecosystems (presentation)

EPA Science Inventory

Analysis of spatially-explicit ecological phenomena in aquatic ecosystems is impeded by a lack of knowledge of, and tools to delimit, spatial patterns of material supply to point locations. Here we apply the concept of "resource sheds" to coasts and watersheds. Resource sheds ar...

ECOLOGICAL POLICY: DEFINING APPROPRIATE ROLES FOR SCIENCE AND SCIENTISTS

EPA Science Inventory

Effectively resolving the typical ecological, natural resource, or environmental policy issue requires an array of scientific information as part of the input provided to decision-makers. In my experience, the ability of scientists (and scientific information) to constructively ...

Assessing restoration using ecosystem service benefit indicators: An approach for decision makers

EPA Science Inventory

Ecological restoration can reestablish ecosystem services (ES) that provide important social benefits. Managers with limited funds and resources are forced to prioritize potential restoration sites for implementation, and prioritizing restoration sites based on ecological functio...

PROBABILITY SURVEYS , CONDITIONAL PROBABILITIES AND ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT

EPA Science Inventory

We show that probability-based environmental resource monitoring programs, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (U.S. EPA) Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program, and conditional probability analysis can serve as a basis for estimating ecological risk over ...

Resource utilization by foraging eastern red bats (Lasiurus borealis) in the Ozark Region of Missouri

Treesearch

Sybill K. Amelon; Frank R. III Thompson; Joshua J. Millspaugh

2014-01-01

Resource selection by animals influences ecological processes such as dispersal, reproduction, foraging, and migration. Little information exists regarding foraging resource selection by bats during the maternity season. We evaluated support for effects of landcover type, landform, and landscape pattern on resource selection by individual foraging female eastern red...

Evaluating the best available social science for natural resource management decision-making

Treesearch

Susan Charnley; Courtney Carothers; Terre Satterfield; Arielle Levine; Melissa R. Poe; Karma Norman; Jamie Donatuto; Sara Jo Breslow; Michael B. Mascia; Phillip S. Levin; Xavier Basurto; Christina C. Hicks; Carlos García-Quijano; Kevin St. Martin

2017-01-01

Increasing recognition of the human dimensions of natural resource management issues, and of social and ecological sustainability and resilience as being inter-related, highlights the importance of applying social science to natural resource management decision-making. Moreover, a number of laws and regulations require natural resource management agencies to consider...

Soil conservation service landscape resource management

Treesearch

Sally Schauman; Carolyn Adams

1979-01-01

SCS Landscape Resource Management (LRM) is the application of landscape architecture to SCS conservation activities. LRM includes but is not limited to visual resource management. LRM can be summarized in three principles: (1) SCS landscape architecture considers the landscape as a composite of ecological, social and visual resources; (2) SCS landscapes exist in the...

[Suitable investigation method of exploration and suggestions for investigating Chinese materia medica resources from wetland and artificial water of Hongze Lake region].

PubMed

Liu, Rui; Yan, Hui; Duan, Jin-Ao; Liu, Xing-Jian; Ren, Quan-Jin; Li, Hui-Wei; Bao, Bei-Hua; Zhang, Zhao-Hui

2016-08-01

According to the technology requirements of the fourth national survey of Chinese Materia Medica resources (pilot), suitable investigation method of exploration and suggestions for investigating Chinese Materia Medica resources was proposed based on the type of wetland and artificial water of Hongze Lake region. Environment of Hongze Lake and overview of wetland, present situation of ecology and vegetation and vegetation distribution were analyzed. Establishment of survey plan, selection of sample area and sample square and confirmation of representative water area survey plan were all suggested. The present study provide references for improving Chinese materia medica resources survey around Hongze Lake, and improving the technical specifications. It also provide references for investigating Chinese Materia Medica resources survey on similar ecological environment under the condition of artificial intervention. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

Revision and extension of Eco-LCA metrics for sustainability assessment of the energy and chemical processes.

PubMed

Yang, Shiying; Yang, Siyu; Kraslawski, Andrzej; Qian, Yu

2013-12-17

Ecologically based life cycle assessment (Eco-LCA) is an appealing approach for the evaluation of resources utilization and environmental impacts of the process industries from an ecological scale. However, the aggregated metrics of Eco-LCA suffer from some drawbacks: the environmental impact metric has limited applicability; the resource utilization metric ignores indirect consumption; the renewability metric fails to address the quantitative distinction of resources availability; the productivity metric seems self-contradictory. In this paper, the existing Eco-LCA metrics are revised and extended for sustainability assessment of the energy and chemical processes. A new Eco-LCA metrics system is proposed, including four independent dimensions: environmental impact, resource utilization, resource availability, and economic effectiveness. An illustrative example of comparing assessment between a gas boiler and a solar boiler process provides insight into the features of the proposed approach.

Integrating science and resource management in Tampa Bay, Florida

USGS Publications Warehouse

Yates, Kimberly K.; Greening, Holly; Morrison, Gerold

2011-01-01

Tampa Bay is recognized internationally for its remarkable progress towards recovery since it was pronounced "dead" in the late 1970s. Due to significant efforts by local governments, industries and private citizens throughout the watershed, water clarity in Tampa Bay is now equal to what it was in 1950, when population in the watershed was less than one-quarter of what it is today. Seagrass extent has increased by more than 8,000 acres since the mid-1980s, and fish and wildlife populations are increasing. Central to this successful turn-around has been the Tampa Bay resource management community's long-term commitment to development and implementation of strong science-based management strategies. Research institutions and agencies, including Eckerd College, the Florida Wildlife Commission Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, Mote Marine Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Southwest Florida Water Management District, University of South Florida, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Geological Survey, local and State governments, and private companies contribute significantly to the scientific basis of our understanding of Tampa Bay's structure and ecological function. Resource management agencies, including the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council's Agency on Bay Management, the Southwest Florida Water Management District's Surface Water Improvement and Management Program, and the Tampa Bay Estuary Program, depend upon this scientific basis to develop and implement regional adaptive management programs. The importance of integrating science with management has become fully recognized by scientists and managers throughout the region, State and Nation. Scientific studies conducted in Tampa Bay over the past 10–15 years are increasingly diverse and complex, and resource management programs reflect our increased knowledge of geology, hydrology and hydrodynamics, ecology and restoration techniques. However, a synthesis of this research and its integration into resource management has not been prepared for Tampa Bay since the mid-1980s. The need for an up-to-date synthesis of Tampa Bay science and management has resulted in the production of this document. The U.S. Geological Survey recently completed a 5-year Tampa Bay Integrated Science Study, and the Tampa Bay Estuary Program updated the Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan for Tampa Bay in 2006. These efforts build upon results of the many research and management studies and programs summarized here.

Population growth and economic growth.

PubMed

Narayana, D L

1984-01-01

This discussion of the issues relating to the problem posed by population explosion in the developing countries and economic growth in the contemporary world covers the following: predictions of economic and social trends; the Malthusian theory of population; the classical or stationary theory of population; the medical triage model; ecological disaster; the Global 2000 study; the limits to growth; critiques of the Limits to Growth model; nonrenewable resources; food and agriculture; population explosion and stabilization; space and ocean colonization; and the limits perspective. The Limits to Growth model, a general equilibrium anti-growth model, is the gloomiest economic model ever constructed. None of the doomsday models, the Malthusian theory, the classical stationary state, the neo-Malthusian medical triage model, the Global 2000 study, are so far reaching in their consequences. The course of events that followed the publication of the "Limits to Growth" in 1972 in the form of 2 oil shocks, food shock, pollution shock, and price shock seemed to bear out formally the gloomy predictions of the thesis with a remarkable speed. The 12 years of economic experience and the knowledge of resource trends postulate that even if the economic pressures visualized by the model are at work they are neither far reaching nor so drastic. Appropriate action can solve them. There are several limitations to the Limits to Growth model. The central theme of the model, which is overshoot and collapse, is unlikely to be the course of events. The model is too aggregative to be realistic. It exaggerates the ecological disaster arising out of the exponential growth of population and industry. The gross underestimation of renewable resources is a basic flaw of the model. The most critical weakness of the model is its gross underestimation of the historical trend of technological progress and the technological possiblities within industry and agriculture. The model does correctly emphasize the exponential growth of population as the source of several complications for economic growth and human welfare. Stabilization of population by reducing fertility is conducive for improving the quality of population and also advances the longterm management of the population growth and work force utilization. The perspective of longterm economic management involves populatio n planning, control of environmental pollution, conservation of scarce resources, exploration of resources, realization of technological possibilities in agriculture and industry and in farm and factory, and achievement of economic growth and its equitable distribution.

Benchmarking successional progress in a quantitative food web.

PubMed

Boit, Alice; Gaedke, Ursula

2014-01-01

Central to ecology and ecosystem management, succession theory aims to mechanistically explain and predict the assembly and development of ecological communities. Yet processes at lower hierarchical levels, e.g. at the species and functional group level, are rarely mechanistically linked to the under-investigated system-level processes which drive changes in ecosystem properties and functioning and are comparable across ecosystems. As a model system for secondary succession, seasonal plankton succession during the growing season is readily observable and largely driven autogenically. We used a long-term dataset from large, deep Lake Constance comprising biomasses, auto- and heterotrophic production, food quality, functional diversity, and mass-balanced food webs of the energy and nutrient flows between functional guilds of plankton and partly fish. Extracting population- and system-level indices from this dataset, we tested current hypotheses about the directionality of successional progress which are rooted in ecosystem theory, the metabolic theory of ecology, quantitative food web theory, thermodynamics, and information theory. Our results indicate that successional progress in Lake Constance is quantifiable, passing through predictable stages. Mean body mass, functional diversity, predator-prey weight ratios, trophic positions, system residence times of carbon and nutrients, and the complexity of the energy flow patterns increased during succession. In contrast, both the mass-specific metabolic activity and the system export decreased, while the succession rate exhibited a bimodal pattern. The weighted connectance introduced here represents a suitable index for assessing the evenness and interconnectedness of energy flows during succession. Diverging from earlier predictions, ascendency and eco-exergy did not increase during succession. Linking aspects of functional diversity to metabolic theory and food web complexity, we reconcile previously disjoint bodies of ecological theory to form a complete picture of successional progress within a pelagic food web. This comprehensive synthesis may be used as a benchmark for quantifying successional progress in other ecosystems.

Benchmarking Successional Progress in a Quantitative Food Web

PubMed Central

Boit, Alice; Gaedke, Ursula

2014-01-01

Central to ecology and ecosystem management, succession theory aims to mechanistically explain and predict the assembly and development of ecological communities. Yet processes at lower hierarchical levels, e.g. at the species and functional group level, are rarely mechanistically linked to the under-investigated system-level processes which drive changes in ecosystem properties and functioning and are comparable across ecosystems. As a model system for secondary succession, seasonal plankton succession during the growing season is readily observable and largely driven autogenically. We used a long-term dataset from large, deep Lake Constance comprising biomasses, auto- and heterotrophic production, food quality, functional diversity, and mass-balanced food webs of the energy and nutrient flows between functional guilds of plankton and partly fish. Extracting population- and system-level indices from this dataset, we tested current hypotheses about the directionality of successional progress which are rooted in ecosystem theory, the metabolic theory of ecology, quantitative food web theory, thermodynamics, and information theory. Our results indicate that successional progress in Lake Constance is quantifiable, passing through predictable stages. Mean body mass, functional diversity, predator-prey weight ratios, trophic positions, system residence times of carbon and nutrients, and the complexity of the energy flow patterns increased during succession. In contrast, both the mass-specific metabolic activity and the system export decreased, while the succession rate exhibited a bimodal pattern. The weighted connectance introduced here represents a suitable index for assessing the evenness and interconnectedness of energy flows during succession. Diverging from earlier predictions, ascendency and eco-exergy did not increase during succession. Linking aspects of functional diversity to metabolic theory and food web complexity, we reconcile previously disjoint bodies of ecological theory to form a complete picture of successional progress within a pelagic food web. This comprehensive synthesis may be used as a benchmark for quantifying successional progress in other ecosystems. PMID:24587353

Sustainable use of renewable resources in a stylized social-ecological network model under heterogeneous resource distribution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barfuss, Wolfram; Donges, Jonathan F.; Wiedermann, Marc; Lucht, Wolfgang

2017-04-01

Human societies depend on the resources ecosystems provide. Particularly since the last century, human activities have transformed the relationship between nature and society at a global scale. We study this coevolutionary relationship by utilizing a stylized model of private resource use and social learning on an adaptive network. The latter process is based on two social key dynamics beyond economic paradigms: boundedly rational imitation of resource use strategies and homophily in the formation of social network ties. The private and logistically growing resources are harvested with either a sustainable (small) or non-sustainable (large) effort. We show that these social processes can have a profound influence on the environmental state, such as determining whether the private renewable resources collapse from overuse or not. Additionally, we demonstrate that heterogeneously distributed regional resource capacities shift the critical social parameters where this resource extraction system collapses. We make these points to argue that, in more advanced coevolutionary models of the planetary social-ecological system, such socio-cultural phenomena as well as regional resource heterogeneities should receive attention in addition to the processes represented in established Earth system and integrated assessment models.

Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) Communications System Ecological Monitoring Program: Plan and Summary of 1982 Progress.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-08-01

Program Acquisition Schedule A-8 LIST OF TABLES TABLE TITLE Page 1 Evolution of the ELF Communications Ecological 2 Moni tori ng Program 2 Summary of...performed on plots in maple-dominant, mixed hardwood stands in Michigan. NATIVE BEES Bees are important pollinators of flowering plants and are...SMALL MAMMALS AND NESTING BIRDS Small mammals and nesting birds represent an ecological level inter- mediate between plants and strict carnivores

Development and deforestation: Indian forestry in perspective.

PubMed

Haeuber, R

1993-07-01

Discussion focused primarily on the industrial demand for forest resources, which were affected by India's policies and contributed to deforestation. Forest policy failed due to inadequate understanding and knowledge of the social, political, and economic complexities of consuming forest resources. Policy can be beneficial when it fulfills national goals and satisfies the needs of competing interests. Future efforts must take into account that economic development will be constrained by ecological systems and must serve to improve the quality of life, rather than improve the quantity of goods and services produced. Development must also be concerned with stabilizing population growth. Approaches must not focus exclusively on population pressure or commercialization. The task of reformulating concepts of development is one that India and all countries face. According to the National Remote Sensing Agency, forests covered 14.1% of India's territory in 1980-82; this forest area has decreased by 22.4% in 10 years. Over 40 years, the development strategy and political context has been to increase agricultural productivity through land clearing rather than land reform, and industrial demand was given priority. This postindependence strategy followed in the footsteps of British colonial policy, and the dominant theoretical and practical knowledge of development at the time. The assumptions were based on an infinite supply of natural resources and perfect substitutability of resources. Progress in economic development was based on measures such as the gross national product or the national income accounts. The consequence was a neglect of the needs of poor rural populations, and increasing pressure on forest resources. India's development strategy is traced from 1947 when it had vast undeveloped resources and a large work force capability through the various 5-year plans directed to expanding agricultural production and to achieving rapid industrialization.

Social-Ecological System in Seagrass Ecosystem Management at Kotania Bay Waters, Western Seram, Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wawo, Mintje

2017-10-01

The concept of the Social-Ecological System (SES) of the coastal region, can be found in the seagrass ecosystem in the Kotania Bay Waters. Seagrass ecosystem as one of the productive ecosystem is part of an ecological system that can influence and influenced social system, in this case by people living around the seagrass ecosystem. This aim to estimating the socio-ecological vulnerability system of the seagrass ecosystem in the Kotania Bay Waters, the Linkage Matrix is used (de Chazal et al., 2008). This linkage matrix was created to determine the perception and understanding of the community on the ecosystem services provided by the seagrass ecosystem through the appraisal of various stakeholders. The results show that social values are rooted in the public perception of ecosystem goods and services, which are rarely considered. The ecological and economic value of natural resources is increasingly being used to determine the priority areas in the planning and management of coastal areas. The social value that exists in natural resources is highly recognized in conservation.

[Urban ecological land in Changsha City: its quantitative analysis and optimization].

PubMed

Li, Xiao-Li; Zeng, Guang-Ming; Shi, Lin; Liang, Jie; Cai, Qing

2010-02-01

In this paper, a hierarchy index system suitable for catastrophe progression method was constructed to comprehensively analyze and evaluate the status of ecological land construction in Changsha City in 2007. Based on the evaluation results, the irrationalities of the distribution pattern of Changsha urban ecological land were discussed. With the support of geographic information system (GIS), the ecological corridors of the urban ecological land were constructed by using the 'least-cost' modeling, and, in combining with conflict analysis, the optimum project of the urban ecological land was put forward, forming an integrated evaluation system. The results indicated that the ecological efficiency of urban ecological land in Changsha in 2007 was at medium level, with an evaluation value being 0.9416, and the quantitative index being relatively high but the coordination index being relatively low. The analysis and verification with software Fragstats showed that the ecological efficiency of the urban ecological land after optimization was higher, with the evaluation value being 0.9618, and the SHDI, CONTAG, and other indices also enhanced.

PREDICTING ESTUARINE SEDIMENT METAL CONCENTRATIONS AND INFERRED ECOLOGICAL CONDITIONS: AN INFORMATION THEORETIC APPROACH

EPA Science Inventory

Empirically derived values associating sediment metal concentrations with degraded ecological conditions provide important information to assess estuarine condition. However, resources limit the number, magnitude, and frequency of monitoring programs to gather these data. As su...

FIFTH NHEERL SYMPOSIUM FLYER -- INDICATORS IN HEALTH AND ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT

EPA Science Inventory

Announcement for NHEERL Fifth Symposium - Indicators in Health and Ecological Risk Assessment. The purpose of the symposium is to address assessment of risk to public health or environmental resources which requires competent characterization of stressors and corresponding effec...

FIFTH NHEERL SYMPOSIUM POSTER -- INDICATORS IN HEALTH AND ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT

EPA Science Inventory

Poster for announcing NHEERL Fifth Symposium - Indicators in Health and Ecological Risk Assessment. The purpose of the symposium is to address assessment of risk to public health or environmental resources which requires competent characterization of stressors and corresponding ...

Probability Surveys, Conditional Probability, and Ecological Risk Assessment

EPA Science Inventory

We show that probability-based environmental resource monitoring programs, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (U.S. EPA) Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program, and conditional probability analysis can serve as a basis for estimating ecological risk over ...

Application of a simplified ecological footprint at a regional scale

EPA Science Inventory

Ecological Footprint (EF) is a commonly used metric of environmental sustainability because it is straightforward in theory and easy to conceptualize. EF attempts to capture anthropogenic influence on resources by identifying the amount of biologically-productive land required t...

ANIMAL-HABITAT ASSOCIATIONS IN PACIFIC NORTHWEST ESTUARIES

EPA Science Inventory

The mission of the Pacific Coastal Ecology Branch (EPA, Newport, OR) is to determine the effects of habitat alteration by stressors on ecological resources in Pacific Northwest (PNW) estuaries. Research being conducted in support of this mission includes identifying critical hab...

Stoichiometric Mismatch between Consumers and Resources Mediates the Growth of Rocky Intertidal Suspension Feeders

PubMed Central

Bracken, Matthew E. S.

2017-01-01

The concept of ecological stoichiometry—the balancing of elemental ratios in ecological interactions—has transformed our thinking about processes in natural systems. Here, this perspective is applied to rocky shore ecosystems to explore the consequences of variation in internal nutrient ratios across two trophic levels. Specifically, I measured the internal concentrations of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) in mussels (Mytilus spp.) and particulate organic matter (POM) to evaluate the effects of stoichiometric mismatch—the difference in the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio (C:N) between a consumer and its resources—on mussel growth at sites on the coasts of Oregon, USA, and the South Island of New Zealand. As POM quality (i.e., Chl a, a proxy for phytoplankton availability in the POM) increased, C:N of the POM declined, but C:N of mussels increased. This resulted in a greater mismatch in C:N between mussels and their food source at low Chl a. Mussel growth across sites was positively associated with Chl a, particulate organic carbon (POC), and particulate organic nitrogen (PON) but negatively associated with stoichiometric mismatch. Overall, as the elemental ratios of consumers became more different from those of their resources, growth declined, likely due to the energetic cost associated with processing lower quality food. Furthermore, the effect of food quantity on growth depended on stoichiometric mismatch. In New Zealand, where mismatch was high—i.e., consumer C:N differed substantially from resource C:N—consumer growth was strongly affected by resource quantity (Chl a or POC). However, in Oregon, where mismatch was low, the relationship between resource quantity and growth was considerably weaker. This interaction between resource quantity and mismatch was not apparent for PON, which is consistent with variation in PON underlying variation in POM C:N and highlights the role of N in limiting growth. Previous research has neglected the importance of ecological stoichiometry as a mediator of consumer-resource interactions in rocky intertidal communities. I show that resource quality and quantity interact to determine consumer growth, highlighting the utility of ecological stoichiometry in understanding spatial subsidies in benthic marine systems. PMID:28747903

Functionally specialised birds respond flexibly to seasonal changes in fruit availability.

PubMed

Bender, Irene M A; Kissling, W Daniel; Böhning-Gaese, Katrin; Hensen, Isabell; Kühn, Ingolf; Wiegand, Thorsten; Dehling, D Matthias; Schleuning, Matthias

2017-07-01

Interactions between resource and consumer species result in complex ecological networks. The overall structure of these networks is often stable in space and time, but little is known about the temporal stability of the functional roles of consumer species in these networks. We used a trait-based approach to investigate whether consumers (frugivorous birds) show similar degrees of functional specialisation on resources (plants) in ecological networks across seasons. We additionally tested whether closely related bird species have similar degrees of functional specialisation and whether birds that are functionally specialised on specific resource types within a season are flexible in switching to other resource types in other seasons. We analysed four seasonal replicates of two species-rich plant-frugivore networks from the tropical Andes. To quantify fruit preferences of frugivorous birds, we projected their interactions with plants into a multidimensional plant trait space. To measure functional specialisation of birds, we calculated a species' functional niche breadth (the extent of seasonal plant trait space utilised by a particular bird) and functional originality (the extent to which a bird species' fruit preference functionally differs from those of other species in a seasonal network). We additionally calculated functional flexibility, i.e. the ability of bird species to change their fruit preference across seasons in response to variation in plant resources. Functional specialisation of bird species varied more among species than across seasons, and phylogenetically similar bird species showed similar degrees of functional niche breadth (phylogenetic signal λ = 0·81) and functional originality (λ = 0·89). Additionally, we found that birds with high functional flexibility across seasons had narrow functional niche breadth and high functional originality per season, suggesting that birds that are seasonally specialised on particular resources are most flexible in switching to other fruit resources across seasons. The high flexibility of functionally specialised bird species to switch seasonally to other resources challenges the view that consumer species rely on functionally similar resources throughout the year. This flexibility of consumer species may be an important, but widely neglected mechanism that could potentially stabilise consumer-resource networks in response to human disturbance and environmental change. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2017 British Ecological Society.

Developing ecological site and state-and-transition models for grazed riparian pastures at Tejon Ranch, California

Treesearch

Felix P. Ratcliff; James Bartolome; Michele Hammond; Sheri Spiegal; Michael White

2015-01-01

Ecological site descriptions and associated state-and-transition models are useful tools for understanding the variable effects of management and environment on range resources. Models for woody riparian sites have yet to be fully developed. At Tejon Ranch, in the southern San Joaquin Valley of California, we are using ecological site theory to investigate the role of...

Assessing ecological integrity using multiscale information from Bureau of Land Management Assessment and Monitoring Programs [Chapter 4

Treesearch

Sarah K. Carter; Natasha B. Carr; Curtis H. Flather; Erica Fleishman; Matthias Leu; Barry R. Noon; David J. A. Wood

2016-01-01

The Bureau of Land Management manages 246 million surface acres (100 million hectares) across the United States for multiple uses and sustained yield. Ensuring protection of ecological systems in the context of multiple, and often conflicting, resource uses and values is a challenge. Ecological integrity and land health are terms used by the Bureau of Land Management...

Using traditional ecological knowledge as a basis for targeted forest inventory: paper birch (Betula papyrifera) in the US Great Lakes Region

Treesearch

Marla R. Emery; Alexandra Wrobel; Mark H. Hansen; Michael Dockry; W. Keith Moser; Kekek Jason Stark; Jonathan H. Gilbert

2014-01-01

Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) has been proposed as a basis for enhanced understanding of ecological systems and their management. TEK also can contribute to targeted inventories of resources not included in standard mensuration. We discuss the results of a cooperative effort between the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) and USDA Forest...

Annual Research Review: What is Resilience within the Social Ecology of Human Development?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ungar, Michael; Ghazinour, Mehdi; Richter, Jorg

2013-01-01

Background: The development of Bronfenbrenner's bio-social-ecological systems model of human development parallels advances made to the theory of resilience that progressively moved from a more individual (micro) focus on traits to a multisystemic understanding of person-environment reciprocal processes. Methods: This review uses…

Early Elementary Students' Understanding of Complex Ecosystems: A Learning Progression Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hokayem, Hayat; Gotwals, Amelia Wenk

2016-01-01

Engaging in systemic reasoning about ecological issues is critical for early elementary students to develop future understanding of critical environmental issues such as global warming and loss of biodiversity. However, ecological issues are rarely taught in ways to highlight systemic reasoning in elementary schools. In this study, we conducted…

Community Ecology and Capacity: Keys to Progressing the Environmental Communication of Wicked Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caron, Rosemary M.; Serrell, Nancy

2009-01-01

Wicked problems are multifactorial in nature and possess no clear resolution due to numerous community stakeholder involvement. We demonstrate childhood lead poisoning as a wicked problem and illustrate how understanding a community's ecology can build community capacity to affect local environmental management by (1) forming an academic-community…

PROFILE: Integrating Stressor and Response Monitoring into a Resource-Based Water-Quality Assessment Framework.

PubMed

ROUX; KEMPSTER; KLEYNHANS; VAN; DU

1999-01-01

/ South African water law as well as the country's water resource management policies are currently under review. The Water Law Principles, which were established as part of this review process, indicate a commitment to sustainable development of water resources and the protection of an ecological "reserve." Such policy goals highlight the limitations of traditional and current water-quality management strategies, which rely on stressor monitoring and associated regulation of pollution. The concept of an assimilative capacity is central to the implementation of the current water-quality management approach. Weaknesses inherent in basing water management on the concept of assimilative capacity are discussed. Response monitoring is proposed as a way of addressing some of the weaknesses. Following a global trend, the new policy goals emphasize the need to protect rather than to use the ability of ecosystems to recover from disturbances. This necessitates the adoption of response measurements to quantify ecological condition and monitor ecological change. Response monitoring focuses on properties that are essential to the sustainability of the ecosystem. These monitoring tools can be used to establish natural ranges of ecological change within ecosystems, as well as to quantify conceptually acceptable and unacceptable ranges of change. Through a framework of biological criteria and biological impairment standards, the results of response monitoring can become an integral part of future water resource management strategies in South Africa. KEY WORDS: Stressor monitoring; Response monitoring; Assimilative capacity; Ecosystem stability; Resilience; Biocriteria

Resource waves: phenological diversity enhances foraging opportunities for mobile consumers

USGS Publications Warehouse

Armstrong, Jonathan B.; Takimoto, Gaku; Schindler, Daniel E.; Hayes, Matthew M.; Kauffman, Matthew J.

2016-01-01

Time can be a limiting constraint for consumers, particularly when resource phenology mediates foraging opportunity. Though a large body of research has explored how resource phenology influences trophic interactions, this work has focused on the topics of trophic mismatch or predator swamping, which typically occur over short periods, at small spatial extents or coarse resolutions. In contrast many consumers integrate across landscape heterogeneity in resource phenology, moving to track ephemeral food sources that propagate across space as resource waves. Here we provide a conceptual framework to advance the study of phenological diversity and resource waves. We define resource waves, review evidence of their importance in recent case studies, and demonstrate their broader ecological significance with a simulation model. We found that consumers ranging from fig wasps (Chalcidoidea) to grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) exploit resource waves, integrating across phenological diversity to make resource aggregates available for much longer than their component parts. In model simulations, phenological diversity was often more important to consumer energy gain than resource abundance per se. Current ecosystem-based management assumes that species abundance mediates the strength of trophic interactions. Our results challenge this assumption and highlight new opportunities for conservation and management. Resource waves are an emergent property of consumer–resource interactions and are broadly significant in ecology and conservation.

Paper 8775 - Integrating Natural Resources and Ecological Science into the Disaster Risk CYCLE: Lessons Learned and Future Directions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brosnan, D. M.

2014-12-01

Familiar to disaster risk reduction (DRR) scientists and professionals, the disaster cycle is an adaptive approach that involves planning, response and learning for the next event. It has proven effective in saving lives and helping communities around the world deal with natural and other hazards. But it has rarely been applied to natural resource and ecological science, despite the fact that many communities are dependent on these resources. This presentation will include lessons learned from applying science to tackle ecological consequences in several disasters in the US and globally, including the Colorado Floods, the SE Asia tsunami, the Montserrat volcanic eruption, and US SAFRR tsunami scenario. The presentation discusses the role that science and scientists can play at each phase of the disaster cycle. The consequences of not including disaster cycles in the management of natural systems leaves these resources and the huge investments made to protect highly vulnerable. The presentation discusses how The presentation discusses how science can help government and communities in planning and responding to these events. It concludes with a set of lessons learned and guidlines for moving forward.

[Progress and prospects on evaluation of ecological restoration: a review of the 5th World Conference on Ecological Restoration].

PubMed

Ding, Jing-Yi; Zhao, Wen-Wu

2014-09-01

The 5th World Conference on Ecological Restoration was held in Madison, Wisconsin, USA on October 6-11, 2013. About 1200 delegates from more than 50 countries attended the conference, and discussed the latest developments in different thematic areas of ecological restoration. Discussions on evaluation of ecological restoration were mainly from three aspects: The construction for evaluation indicator system of ecological restoration; the evaluation methods of ecological restoration; monitoring and dynamic evaluation of ecological restoration. The meeting stressed the importance of evaluation in the process of ecological restoration and concerned the challenges in evaluation of ecological restoration. The conference had the following enlightenments for China' s research on evaluation of ecological restoration: 1) Strengthening the construction of comprehensive evaluation indicators system and focusing on the multi-participation in the evaluation process. 2) Paying more attentions on scale effect and scale transformation in the evaluation process of ecological restoration. 3) Expanding the application of 3S technology in assessing the success of ecological restoration and promoting the dynamic monitoring of ecological restoration. 4) Carrying out international exchanges and cooperation actively, and promoting China's international influence in ecological restoration research.

Hawaii Energy Resource Overviews. Volume 4. Impact of geothermal resource development in Hawaii (including air and water quality)

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

Siegel, S.M.; Siegel, B.Z.

1980-06-01

The environmental consequences of natural processes in a volcanic-fumerolic region and of geothermal resource development are presented. These include acute ecological effects, toxic gas emissions during non-eruptive periods, the HGP-A geothermal well as a site-specific model, and the geothermal resources potential of Hawaii. (MHR)

Fire and tribal cultural resources

Treesearch

Frank K. Lake; Jonathan W. Long

2014-01-01

Native American tribes regard plants that have evolved with frequent fire and other natural resources as living cultural resources that provide, water, food, medicines, and other material goods while also sustaining tribal cultural traditions. Collaborations between management agencies and tribes and other Native American groups can incorporate traditional ecological...

Spatial ecology of white-tailed deer fawns in the northern Great Plains: implications of loss of conservation reserve program grasslands

USGS Publications Warehouse

Grovenburg, Troy W.; Klaver, Robert W.; Jenks, Jonathan A.

2012-01-01

Few studies have evaluated how wildlife, and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in particular, respond to Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grasslands. We conducted a 3-year study (2007–2009) to determine the influence of CRP on fawn ecology during a time of declining CRP enrollment. We captured and radiocollared 81 fawn white-tailed deer during 15 May to 15 June 2007–2009 in north-central South Dakota, collected 6,505 locations, and documented 70 summer home ranges. Mean summer home ranges increased temporally during 2007–2009 (P P < 0.001) from 2007 to 2009. Analysis of covariance models indicated that change in CRP influenced home-range size, and change in CRP and wheat influenced daily movement. Smaller home ranges and reduced movements were associated with greater quantity of CRP available to fawns, and increased movements were associated with more acreage of wheat available to fawns. Fawns shifted resource selection during the summer at a mean age ranging from 48.8 days to 58.6 days, and this shift was associated with height of corn (83–87 cm). During early summer, fawns consistently selected for CRP; selection of wheat progressed temporally from avoidance in 2007 to selection in 2009. During late summer, fawns consistently selected for corn habitat and used CRP at least in proportion to its availability. Reduction in CRP-grasslands seemed to increase fawn home-range size and daily movements and, influenced change in resource selection to wheat. Current legislation mandates continued decrease in CRP enrollment and concomitant increase in the planting of corn for ethanol production. Management of habitat throughout the grasslands of the Northern Great Plains that maximizes cover habitats would provide neonates with adequate cover for protection from predators.

The role of ruminants in reducing agriculture's carbon footprint in North America

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

To ensure the long-term sustainability and ecological resilience of natural resources, agricultural production needs to be guided by policies and regenerative management protocols that support ecologically healthy and resilient arable and pastoral ecosystems and mitigate anthropogenic greenhouse gas...

The Benefits of Restoration in Urbanizing Watersheds: Developing Value Indicators and Understanding Social Barriers and Opportunities

EPA Science Inventory

Ecological restoration can reestablish ecosystem services (ES) that provide important social benefits, but managers with limited funds and resources are forced to prioritize potential restoration sites. Prioritizing restoration sites based on ecological functioning and expected ...

NATIONAL COASTAL ASSESSMENT APPROACH AND FINDINGS IN THE NORTHEAST

EPA Science Inventory

The National Coastal Assessment (NCA) has three major goals: 1) assess ecological condition of the nation's estuarine resources based on comparable data of known quality, 2) determine reference conditions for more detailed studies of ecological stressors and responses, and 3) he...

Habitats as ecological templates and their utility in ecological resource management

EPA Science Inventory

The kind, distribution and abundance of estuarine organisms largely depend upon the habitats present. Consequently, as habitats change so may organisms in the landscape together with the ecosystem goods and services they provide. At estuary scale, sediment features (sand; mud),...

Observations on Ecology and National Security

DTIC Science & Technology

1975-03-01

central business district.8"* To others, human ecology is concerned almost solely with the interaction between the human species and pathogenic ... aphid population," in Animal Populations in Relation to Their Food Resources. Blackwell, Oxford, England (1970). 14. T.R.E. Southwood and

Tigers and their prey: Predicting carnivore densities from prey abundance

USGS Publications Warehouse

Karanth, K.U.; Nichols, J.D.; Kumar, N.S.; Link, W.A.; Hines, J.E.

2004-01-01

The goal of ecology is to understand interactions that determine the distribution and abundance of organisms. In principle, ecologists should be able to identify a small number of limiting resources for a species of interest, estimate densities of these resources at different locations across the landscape, and then use these estimates to predict the density of the focal species at these locations. In practice, however, development of functional relationships between abundances of species and their resources has proven extremely difficult, and examples of such predictive ability are very rare. Ecological studies of prey requirements of tigers Panthera tigris led us to develop a simple mechanistic model for predicting tiger density as a function of prey density. We tested our model using data from a landscape-scale long-term (1995-2003) field study that estimated tiger and prey densities in 11 ecologically diverse sites across India. We used field techniques and analytical methods that specifically addressed sampling and detectability, two issues that frequently present problems in macroecological studies of animal populations. Estimated densities of ungulate prey ranged between 5.3 and 63.8 animals per km2. Estimated tiger densities (3.2-16.8 tigers per 100 km2) were reasonably consistent with model predictions. The results provide evidence of a functional relationship between abundances of large carnivores and their prey under a wide range of ecological conditions. In addition to generating important insights into carnivore ecology and conservation, the study provides a potentially useful model for the rigorous conduct of macroecological science.

A Decision Support System For The Real-Time Allocation Of The Water Resource Of The Tarim River Basin, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, J.; Wang, G.; Liu, R.

2008-12-01

The Tarim River Basin is the longest inland river in China. Due to water scarcity, ecologically-fragile is becoming a significant constraint to sustainable development in this region. To effectively manage the limited water resources for ecological purposes and for conventional water utilization purposes, a real-time water resources allocation Decision Support System (DSS) has been developed. Based on workflows of the water resources regulations and comprehensive analysis of the efficiency and feasibility of water management strategies, the DSS includes information systems that perform data acquisition, management and visualization, and model systems that perform hydrological forecast, water demand prediction, flow routing simulation and water resources optimization of the hydrological and water utilization process. An optimization and process control strategy is employed to dynamically allocate the water resources among the different stakeholders. The competitive targets and constraints are taken into considered by multi-objective optimization and with different priorities. The DSS of the Tarim River Basin has been developed and been successfully utilized to support the water resources management of the Tarim River Basin since 2005.

[Identification of coupling relationship between urbanization and ecological environment in Jilin from entropy change perspective].

PubMed

Sun, Ping-Jun; Xiu, Chun-Liang; Zhang, Tian-Jiao

2014-03-01

By using the entropy change equation of the second law of thermodynamics, entropy method and PSE model, this article made an analysis on coupling relationship between urbanization and ecological environment in Jilin Province from 2001 to 2011. In the study period, the urbanization development had been out of normal evolution track: The economic urbanization and space urbanization dominated the whole urbanization process, while population urbanization was neglected too seriously, with an apparent characteristic of extensive and inefficient input of resources (especially land resource). According to the levels of ecological environment on the basis of PSE model, not only the pressure index, sensitivity index and the elasticity index, but also the comprehensive index showed considerable growth with obvious stage characteristics: ascending-descending-ascending. The total entropy values of the urbanization were less than zero during the time, which meant an unstable rising curve. While the total trophy values of the ecological environment varied below and above zero, and 2003, 2006, 2010 and 2011 were the "turning points", reflecting the instability of the ecological environment. The coupling total entropy values between urbanization and ecological environment had the same characteristics with the ecological environment: the same "turning points" and shape of the curve, in which, the "turning points" corresponded to the type of antagonistic evolution pattern, while the rest of years responded to the type of coordination evolution pattern.

Investigating the biodiversity of ciliates in the 'Age of Integration'.

PubMed

Clamp, John C; Lynn, Denis H

2017-10-01

Biology is now turning toward a more integrative approach to research, distinguished by projects that depend on collaboration across hierarchical levels of organization or across disciplines. This trend is prompted by the need to solve complex, large-scale problems and includes disciplines that could be defined as integrative biodiversity. Integrative biodiversity of protists, including that of ciliates, is still partially in its infancy. This is the result of a shortage of historical data resources such as curated museum collections. Major areas of integrative biodiversity of ciliates that have begun to emerge can be categorized as integrative systematics, phenotypic plasticity, and integrative ecology. Integrative systematics of ciliates is characterized by inclusion of diverse sources of data in treatment of taxonomy of species and phylogenetic investigations. Integrative research in phenotypic plasticity combines investigation of functional roles of individual species of ciliates with genetic and genomic data. Finally, integrative ecology focuses on genetic identity of species in communities of ciliates and their collective functional roles in ecosystems. A review of current efforts toward integrative research into biodiversity of ciliates reveals a single, overarching concern-rapid progress will be achieved only by implementing a comprehensive strategy supported by one or more groups of active researchers. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier GmbH.. All rights reserved.

Predictive Management of Asian Carps in the Upper Mississippi River System

USGS Publications Warehouse

Vondracek, Bruce C.; Carlson, Andrew K.

2014-01-01

Prolific non-native organisms pose serious threats to ecosystems and economies worldwide. Nonnative bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) and silver carp (H. molitrix), collectively referred to as Asian carps, continue to colonize aquatic ecosystems throughout the central United States. These species are r-selected, exhibiting iteroparous spawning, rapid growth, broad environmental tolerance, high density, and long-distance movement. Hydrological, thermal, and physicochemical conditions are favorable for establishment beyond the current range, rendering containment and control imperative. Ecological approaches to confine Asian carp populations and prevent colonization characterize contemporary management in the United States. Foraging and reproduction of Asian carps govern habitat selection and movement, providing valuable insight for predictive control. Current management approaches are progressive and often anticipatory but deficient in human dimensions. We define predictive management of Asian carps as synthesis of ecology and human dimensions at regional and local scales to develop strategies for containment and control. We illustrate predictive management in the Upper Mississippi River System and suggest resource managers integrate predictive models, containment paradigms, and human dimensions to design effective, socially acceptable management strategies. Through continued research, university-agency collaboration, and public engagement, predictive management of Asian carps is an auspicious paradigm for preventing and alleviating consequences of colonization in the United States.

Mine Land Reclamation and Eco-Reconstruction in Shanxi Province I: Mine Land Reclamation Model

PubMed Central

Bing-yuan, Hao; Li-xun, Kang

2014-01-01

Coal resource is the main primary energy in our country, while Shanxi Province is the most important province in resource. Therefore Shanxi is an energy base for our country and has a great significance in energy strategy. However because of the heavy development of the coal resource, the ecological environment is worsening and the farmland is reducing continuously in Shanxi Province. How to resolve the contradiction between coal resource exploitation and environmental protection has become the imperative. Thus the concept of “green mining industry” is arousing more and more attention. In this assay, we will talk about the basic mode of land reclamation in mine area, the engineering study of mine land reclamation, the comprehensive model study of mine land reclamation, and the design and model of ecological agricultural reclamation in mining subsidence. PMID:25050398

Use of Electronic Tag Data and Associated Analytical Tools to Identify and Predict Habitat Utilization of Marine Predators

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-01

functional considerations. Behavioral Ecology 23:765-774. Champagne, C. D., D. S. Houser, D. P. Costa, and D. E. Crocker. 2012. The Effects of Handling and...Costa, and F. Trillmich. 2012a. Age, body mass and environmental variation shape the foraging ontogeny of Galapagos sea lions. Marine Ecology ...variation shape the foraging ontogeny of Galapagos sea lions. Marine Ecology -Progress Series 453:279-296. Maxwell, S. M., J. J. Frank, G. A. Breed, P. W

Using ecological indicators and a decision support system for integrated ecological assessment at two national park units in the Mid-Atlantic region, U.S.A.

USGS Publications Warehouse

Mahan, Carolyn G.; Young, John A.; Miller, Bruce; Saunders, Michael C.

2014-01-01

We implemented an integrated ecological assessment using a GIS-based decision support system model for Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River (UPDE) and Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (DEWA)—national park units with the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Our assessment examined a variety of aquatic and terrestrial indicators of ecosystem components that reflect the parks’ conservation purpose and reference condition. Our assessment compared these indicators to ecological thresholds to determine the condition of park watersheds. Selected indicators included chemical and physical measures of water quality, biologic indicators of water quality, and landscape condition measures. For the chemical and physical measures of water quality, we used a water quality index and each of its nine components to assess the condition of water quality in each watershed. For biologic measures of water quality, we used the Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera aquatic macroinvertebrate index and, secondarily, the Hilsenhoff aquatic macroinvertebrate index. Finally, for the landscape condition measures of our model, we used percent forest and percent impervious surface. Based on our overall assessment, UPDE and DEWA watersheds had an ecological assessment score of 0.433 on a −1 to 1 fuzzy logic scale. This score indicates that, in general, the natural resource condition within watersheds at these parks is healthy or ecologically unimpaired; however, we had only partial data for many of our indicators. Our model is iterative and new data may be incorporated as they become available. These natural parks are located within a rapidly urbanizing landscape—we recommend that natural resource managers remain vigilant to surrounding land uses that may adversely affect natural resources within the parks.

Using ecological indicators and a decision support system for integrated ecological assessment at two national park units in the mid-Atlantic region, USA.

PubMed

Mahan, Carolyn G; Young, John A; Miller, Bruce J; Saunders, Michael C

2015-02-01

We implemented an integrated ecological assessment using a GIS-based decision support system model for Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River (UPDE) and Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (DEWA)-national park units with the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Our assessment examined a variety of aquatic and terrestrial indicators of ecosystem components that reflect the parks' conservation purpose and reference condition. Our assessment compared these indicators to ecological thresholds to determine the condition of park watersheds. Selected indicators included chemical and physical measures of water quality, biologic indicators of water quality, and landscape condition measures. For the chemical and physical measures of water quality, we used a water quality index and each of its nine components to assess the condition of water quality in each watershed. For biologic measures of water quality, we used the Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera aquatic macroinvertebrate index and, secondarily, the Hilsenhoff aquatic macroinvertebrate index. Finally, for the landscape condition measures of our model, we used percent forest and percent impervious surface. Based on our overall assessment, UPDE and DEWA watersheds had an ecological assessment score of 0.433 on a -1 to 1 fuzzy logic scale. This score indicates that, in general, the natural resource condition within watersheds at these parks is healthy or ecologically unimpaired; however, we had only partial data for many of our indicators. Our model is iterative and new data may be incorporated as they become available. These natural parks are located within a rapidly urbanizing landscape-we recommend that natural resource managers remain vigilant to surrounding land uses that may adversely affect natural resources within the parks.

The Importance of Human Ecology at the Threshold of the Next Millennium: How Can Population Growth Be Stopped?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nentwig, W.

Ecology is defined as the set of complex interactions between the biotic and abiotic environments. Human ecology concerns principally the population ecology "only" of Homo sapiens, but it also includes all aspects of global ecology because humans are the most important species. Human demography is characterized by a recent decline in mortality and fertility rates. These demographic transitions have largely been completed in industrialized countries, but not in the 140 developing countries. Approximately 100 countries are following the same demographic pattern as industrialized countries, however with a time delay of several generations. China has effectively reduced its population increase by means that would be unacceptable in Western democracies. Some 44 developing countries still show increasing population growth and no detectable demographic transition in birth rate. Thus one part of the world shows limited (and, in the long run, shrinking) population growth, and another continues with a strong increase. All populations are limited in their development by their sustainability by their environment, for example, food and energy resources, and the extent of pollution which the use of these resources produces. It is argued that in the case of human population the limits of sustainability have already been reached with the 6 billion humans alive today, since at least 20% of these suffer from hunger, natural resources are overexploited, and biodiversity is threatened. In the coming 200years it is more likely that the total population will substantially oscillate rather than approach the predicted 12 billion. The most important goal of human ecology should therefore be to slow population growth as far as possible.

Using Ecological Indicators and a Decision Support System for Integrated Ecological Assessment at Two National Park Units in the Mid-Atlantic Region, USA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahan, Carolyn G.; Young, John A.; Miller, Bruce J.; Saunders, Michael C.

2015-02-01

We implemented an integrated ecological assessment using a GIS-based decision support system model for Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River (UPDE) and Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (DEWA)—national park units with the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Our assessment examined a variety of aquatic and terrestrial indicators of ecosystem components that reflect the parks' conservation purpose and reference condition. Our assessment compared these indicators to ecological thresholds to determine the condition of park watersheds. Selected indicators included chemical and physical measures of water quality, biologic indicators of water quality, and landscape condition measures. For the chemical and physical measures of water quality, we used a water quality index and each of its nine components to assess the condition of water quality in each watershed. For biologic measures of water quality, we used the Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera aquatic macroinvertebrate index and, secondarily, the Hilsenhoff aquatic macroinvertebrate index. Finally, for the landscape condition measures of our model, we used percent forest and percent impervious surface. Based on our overall assessment, UPDE and DEWA watersheds had an ecological assessment score of 0.433 on a -1 to 1 fuzzy logic scale. This score indicates that, in general, the natural resource condition within watersheds at these parks is healthy or ecologically unimpaired; however, we had only partial data for many of our indicators. Our model is iterative and new data may be incorporated as they become available. These natural parks are located within a rapidly urbanizing landscape—we recommend that natural resource managers remain vigilant to surrounding land uses that may adversely affect natural resources within the parks.

Wetland Water Cooling Partnership: The Use of Constructed Wetlands to Enhance Thermoelectric Power Plant Cooling and Mitigate the Demand of Surface Water Use

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

Apfelbaum, Steven L.; Duvall, Kenneth W.; Nelson, Theresa M.

Through the Phase I study segment of contract #DE-NT0006644 with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, Applied Ecological Services, Inc. and Sterling Energy Services, LLC (the AES/SES Team) explored the use of constructed wetlands to help address stresses on surface water and groundwater resources from thermoelectric power plant cooling and makeup water requirements. The project objectives were crafted to explore and develop implementable water conservation and cooling strategies using constructed wetlands (not existing, naturally occurring wetlands), with the goal of determining if this strategy has the potential to reduce surface water and groundwater withdrawals of thermoelectric powermore » plants throughout the country. Our team’s exploratory work has documented what appears to be a significant and practical potential for augmenting power plant cooling water resources for makeup supply at many, but not all, thermoelectric power plant sites. The intent is to help alleviate stress on existing surface water and groundwater resources through harvesting, storing, polishing and beneficially re-using critical water resources. Through literature review, development of conceptual created wetland plans, and STELLA-based modeling, the AES/SES team has developed heat and water balances for conventional thermoelectric power plants to evaluate wetland size requirements, water use, and comparative cooling technology costs. The ecological literature on organism tolerances to heated waters was used to understand the range of ecological outcomes achievable in created wetlands. This study suggests that wetlands and water harvesting can provide a practical and cost-effective strategy to augment cooling waters for thermoelectric power plants in many geographic settings of the United States, particularly east of the 100th meridian, and in coastal and riverine locations. The study concluded that constructed wetlands can have significant positive ancillary socio-economic, ecosystem, and water treatment/polishing benefits when used to complement water resources at thermoelectric power plants. Through the Phase II pilot study segment of the contract, the project team partnered with Progress Energy Florida (now Duke Energy Florida) to quantify the wetland water cooling benefits at their Hines Energy Complex in Bartow, Florida. The project was designed to test the wetland’s ability to cool and cleanse power plant cooling pond water while providing wildlife habitat and water harvesting benefits. Data collected during the monitoring period was used to calibrate a STELLA model developed for the site. It was also used to inform management recommendations for the demonstration site, and to provide guidance on the use of cooling wetlands for other power plants around the country. As a part of the pilot study, Duke Energy is scaling up the demonstration project to a larger, commercial scale wetland instrumented with monitoring equipment. Construction is expected to be finalized in early 2014.« less

Preliminary research on quantitative methods of water resources carrying capacity based on water resources balance sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yanqiu; Huang, Xiaorong; Gao, Linyun; Guo, Biying; Ma, Kai

2018-06-01

Water resources are not only basic natural resources, but also strategic economic resources and ecological control factors. Water resources carrying capacity constrains the sustainable development of regional economy and society. Studies of water resources carrying capacity can provide helpful information about how the socioeconomic system is both supported and restrained by the water resources system. Based on the research of different scholars, major problems in the study of water resources carrying capacity were summarized as follows: the definition of water resources carrying capacity is not yet unified; the methods of carrying capacity quantification based on the definition of inconsistency are poor in operability; the current quantitative research methods of water resources carrying capacity did not fully reflect the principles of sustainable development; it is difficult to quantify the relationship among the water resources, economic society and ecological environment. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a better quantitative evaluation method to determine the regional water resources carrying capacity. This paper proposes a new approach to quantifying water resources carrying capacity (that is, through the compilation of the water resources balance sheet) to get a grasp of the regional water resources depletion and water environmental degradation (as well as regional water resources stock assets and liabilities), figure out the squeeze of socioeconomic activities on the environment, and discuss the quantitative calculation methods and technical route of water resources carrying capacity which are able to embody the substance of sustainable development.

Online Resources for Teaching Units on: Ecological Footprint of Human Food

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marrocco, Aldo T.

2011-01-01

The modern food system involves high consumption of natural resources and other forms of environmental degradation. This paper is a presentation of internet resources such as scientific contributions, graphics, tables, images, animations and interactive atlases that can help to teach this subject. The discussion contains some subjects considered…

Disturbance processes and ecosystem management

Treesearch

Robert D. Averill; Louise Larson; Jim Saveland; Philip Wargo; Jerry Williams; Melvin Bellinger

1994-01-01

This paper is intended to broaden awareness and help develop consensus among USDA Forest Service scientists and resource managers about the role and significance of disturbance in ecosystem dynamics and, hence, resource management. To have an effective ecosystem management policy, resource managers and the public must understand the nature of ecological resiliency and...

Ecological and resource economics as ecosystem management tools

Treesearch

Stephen Farber; Dennis Bradley

1999-01-01

Economic pressures on ecosystems will only intensify in the future. Increased population levels, settlement patterns, and increased incomes will raise the demands for ecosystem resources and their services. The pressure to transform ecosystem natural assets into marketable commodities, whether by harvesting and mining resources or altering landscapes through...

Resource Cycles: A Curriculum for Middle and High School Teachers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

San Francisco Recycling Program, CA.

Learning about issues such as natural resources, solid waste management, waste reduction, and the economics of recycling can encourage people to make better choices for the future. This curriculum provides teachers and students with background information and activities relating to four major ecological issues: natural resources, waste management,…

Natural resource accounting for the National Forests: a conceptual framework.

Treesearch

Zhi Xu; Dennis P. Bradley; Pamela J. Jakes

1994-01-01

Summarizes the shortcomings of current natural resource accounting systems, outlines some of the features needed, and proposes an accounting framework that would help integrate economic and ecological factors. Such a system of forest resource accounting is urgently needed to achieve the sustainable goals of ecosystem management.

Adaptive governance to promote ecosystem services in urban ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Managing urban green space as part of an ongoing social-ecological transformationposes novel governance issues, particularly in post-industrial settings. Urban green spaces operate as small-scale nodes in larger networks of ecological reserves that provide and maintain key ecosystem services such as pollination, water retention and infiltration, and sustainable food production. In an urban mosaic, a myriad of social and ecological components factor into aggregating and managing land to maintain or increase the flow of ecosystem services associated with green spaces. Vacant lots (a form of urban green space) are being repurposed for multiple functions, such as habitat for biodiversity, including arthropods that provide pollination services to other green areas; to capture urban runoff that eases the burden on ageing wastewater systems and other civic infrastructure; and to reduce urban heat island effects. Urban green spaces provide vital ecosystem services at varying degrees, depending on the size, function, and management of these spaces. Governance of linked social-ecological systems to maximize those services poses unique challenges given the uncertainty of ecological responses and the social political complexity of managing ecological resources in an urban context where fiscal and human resources are strained. In North America, many cities are facing fiscal austerity because of shrinkage in manufacturing and industrial sectors and the foreclosure crisis. As

The interaction between the spatial distribution of resource patches and population density: consequences for intraspecific growth and morphology.

PubMed

Jacobson, Bailey; Grant, James W A; Peres-Neto, Pedro R

2015-07-01

How individuals within a population distribute themselves across resource patches of varying quality has been an important focus of ecological theory. The ideal free distribution predicts equal fitness amongst individuals in a 1 : 1 ratio with resources, whereas resource defence theory predicts different degrees of monopolization (fitness variance) as a function of temporal and spatial resource clumping and population density. One overlooked landscape characteristic is the spatial distribution of resource patches, altering the equitability of resource accessibility and thereby the effective number of competitors. While much work has investigated the influence of morphology on competitive ability for different resource types, less is known regarding the phenotypic characteristics conferring relative ability for a single resource type, particularly when exploitative competition predominates. Here we used young-of-the-year rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to test whether and how the spatial distribution of resource patches and population density interact to influence the level and variance of individual growth, as well as if functional morphology relates to competitive ability. Feeding trials were conducted within stream channels under three spatial distributions of nine resource patches (distributed, semi-clumped and clumped) at two density levels (9 and 27 individuals). Average trial growth was greater in high-density treatments with no effect of resource distribution. Within-trial growth variance had opposite patterns across resource distributions. Here, variance decreased at low-population, but increased at high-population densities as patches became increasingly clumped as the result of changes in the levels of interference vs. exploitative competition. Within-trial growth was related to both pre- and post-trial morphology where competitive individuals were those with traits associated with swimming capacity and efficiency: larger heads/bodies/caudal fins and less angled pectoral fins. The different degrees of within-population growth variance at the same density level found here, as a function of spatial resource distribution, provide an explanation for the inconsistencies in within-site growth variance and population regulation often noted with regard to density dependence in natural landscapes. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2015 British Ecological Society.

Building Professional and Technical Skills in the Use of Earth Observations through the NASA DEVELOP National Program: Best Practices & Lessons Learned

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crepps, G.; Ross, K. W.; Childs-Gleason, L. M.; Allsbrook, K. N.; Rogers, L.; Ruiz, M. L.; Clayton, A.

2017-12-01

The NASA DEVELOP National Program offers 10-week research opportunities to participants to work on rapid feasibility projects utilizing NASA Earth observations in a variety of applications, including ecological forecasting, water resources, disasters, and health and air quality. DEVELOP offers a unique collaborative environment in which students, recent graduates, and transitioning career professionals are placed on interdisciplinary teams to conduct projects. DEVELOP offers a variety of opportunities and resources to build participants technical skills in remote sensing and GIS, as well as interpersonal and leadership skills. As a capacity building program, DEVELOP assesses participants' growth by using entrance and exit personal growth assessments, as well as gathering general program feedback through an exit survey. All of this information is fed back into the program for continual improvement. DEVELOP also offers a progression of opportunities through which participants can advance through the program, allowing participants to build a diverse set of technical and leadership skills. This presentation will explore best practices including the use of pre- and post-growth assessments, offering advanced leadership opportunities, and overall capacity building impacts on participants.

[Socioenvironmental dilemmas of sustainable development].

PubMed

Torres, H D

1992-01-01

The literature on sustainable development published in advance of the 1992 United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development, in Rio de Janeiro, focuses on the social politics of the environment and the problems of the correlation of population and the environment. There is an intense preoccupation with the Brazilian environmental agenda and excessive treatment of topics related to the natural environment and the tropical forest of the Amazon. The fact that 75% of the Brazilian population lives in urban areas is ignored. Some works maintain that there is profound division between the conservators of the contemporary predatory and wasteful civilization and those progressive forces that point to the direction of a socially just and ecologically sustainable civilization. Issues that cannot be reduced to environmental questions have come into the forefront in recent years: race, gender, human rights, and pacifism. The question of population growth and pressure on the finite resources have also forcefully featured in debates. The sociology of environment submits that the contemporary civilization cannot be sustained in the medium or long term because of exponential population growth, spatial concentration of the population, depletion of natural resources, systems of production that utilized polluting technologies and low energy efficiency, and values that encourage unlimited material consumption.

75 FR 79388 - Record of Decision

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-20

... River Bay National Historic Park and Ecological Preserve, and Virgin Islands National Park. The ROD... have been invaded by exotic plants and to protect park resources and values from adverse effects..., St. Croix, VI 00820; Salt River Bay National Historic Park and Ecological Preserve, Danish Custom...

LOGISTICS OF ECOLOGICAL SAMPLING ON LARGE RIVERS

EPA Science Inventory

The objectives of this document are to provide an overview of the logistical problems associated with the ecological sampling of boatable rivers and to suggest solutions to those problems. It is intended to be used as a resource for individuals preparing to collect biological dat...

CONVERGENCE OF ECOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT AND RISK ASSESSMENT: TOWARDS HOLISTIC ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

EPA Science Inventory

A major emphasis of environmental monitoring and assessment programs is to characterize the condition of natural resources. When repeated through time, ecological assessments (EA) can be used to track changes in environmental condition that reflect on the efficacy of regulatory a...

Editors' foreword

Treesearch

D.C. Hayes; S.L. Stout; R.H. Crawford; A.P. Hoover

2014-01-01

Research programs may move in new directions in response to changes in society's needs and values. Each chapter of this book reflects the relationship between the ecological results that emerge from a long-term research project and the social forces that influence questions asked and resources invested in ecological research.

Integrating Ecological and Water Footprint Accounting in a Multi-Regional Input-Output Framework

EPA Science Inventory

Carbon, ecological, and water footprints (CF, EF, and WF) are accounting tools that can be used to understand the connection between consumption activities and environmental pressures on the Earth?s atmosphere, bioproductive areas, and freshwater resources. These indicators have ...

Assessing Institutional Fitness: A Population Ecology Perspective on College and University Health.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Emmert, Mark A.

1985-01-01

A population ecology model of institutional fitness broadens the scope of perspectives on organizational success. The approach allows systematic thinking about internal and external factors identifies the critical dependency relationships between a college and other organizations that supply resources. (MLW)

A REGIONAL ECOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE GREAT LAKES BASIN

EPA Science Inventory

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Natural Resources Canada: Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS) are conducting a cooperative research landscape ecological study of the Great Lakes Basin. The analyses will include the areas located along the border of the Unit...

A LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY ANALYSIS OF THE GREAT LAKES BASIN

EPA Science Inventory

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Natural Resources Canada: Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS) are conducting a cooperative research landscape ecological study of the Great Lakes Basin. The analyses will include the areas located along the border of the Unit...

ASSESSMENT OF THE ECOLOGICAL CONDITION OF THE DELAWARE AND MARYLAND COASTAL BAYS

EPA Science Inventory

The coastal bays of Delaware and Maryland are an important ecological and economic resource whose physical characteristics and location make them particularly vulnerable to the effects of pollutants. This project was undertaken as a collaborative effort between state and federal ...

Coexistence and chaos in complex ecologies [rapid communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sprott, J. C.; Vano, J. A.; Wildenberg, J. C.; Anderson, M. B.; Noel, J. K.

2005-02-01

Many complex dynamical systems in ecology, economics, neurology, and elsewhere, in which agents compete for limited resources, exhibit apparently chaotic fluctuations. This Letter proposes a purely deterministic mechanism for evolving robustly but weakly chaotic systems that exhibit adaptation, self-organization, sporadic volatility, and punctuated equilibria.

River and fish pollution in Malaysia: A green ergonomics perspective.

PubMed

Poon, Wai Ching; Herath, Gamini; Sarker, Ashutosh; Masuda, Tadayoshi; Kada, Ryohei

2016-11-01

Human activities, such as industrial, agricultural, and domestic pursuits, discharge effluents into riverine ecological systems that contains aquatic resources, such as fish, which are also used by humans. We conducted case studies in Malaysia to investigate the impacts of these human activities on water and fish resources, as well as on human well-being from an ergonomics perspective. This research shows that a green ergonomics approach can provide us with useful insights into sustainable relationships between humans and ecology in facilitating human well-being in consideration of the overall performance of the social-ecological system. Heavy metal concentrations contained in the effluents pollute river water and contaminate fish, eventually creating significant health risks and economic costs for residents, including the polluters. The study suggests a number of policy interventions to change human behavior and achieve greater collaboration between various levels of government, academia, civil society, and businesses to help establish sustainable relationships between humans and ecology in Malaysia. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bringing analysis of gender and social-ecological resilience together in small-scale fisheries research: Challenges and opportunities.

PubMed

Kawarazuka, Nozomi; Locke, Catherine; McDougall, Cynthia; Kantor, Paula; Morgan, Miranda

2017-03-01

The demand for gender analysis is now increasingly orthodox in natural resource programming, including that for small-scale fisheries. Whilst the analysis of social-ecological resilience has made valuable contributions to integrating social dimensions into research and policy-making on natural resource management, it has so far demonstrated limited success in effectively integrating considerations of gender equity. This paper reviews the challenges in, and opportunities for, bringing a gender analysis together with social-ecological resilience analysis in the context of small-scale fisheries research in developing countries. We conclude that rather than searching for a single unifying framework for gender and resilience analysis, it will be more effective to pursue a plural solution in which closer engagement is fostered between analysis of gender and social-ecological resilience whilst preserving the strengths of each approach. This approach can make an important contribution to developing a better evidence base for small-scale fisheries management and policy.

Florida Bay: A history of recent ecological changes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fourqurean, J.W.; Robblee, M.B.

1999-01-01

Florida Bay is a unique subtropical estuary at the southern tip of the Florida peninsula. Recent ecological changes (seagrass die-off, algal blooms, increased turbidity) to the Florida Bay ecosystem have focused the attention of the public, commercial interests, scientists, and resource managers on the factors influencing the structure and function of Florida Bay. Restoring Florida Bay to some historic condition is the goal of resource managers, but what is not clear is what an anthropogenically-unaltered Florida Bay would look like. While there is general consensus that human activities have contributed to the changes occurring in the Florida Bay ecosystem, a high degree of natural system variability has made elucidation of the links between human activity and Florida Bay dynamics difficult. Paleoecological analyses, examination of long-term datasets, and directed measurements of aspects of the ecology of Florida Bay all contribute to our understanding of the behavior of the bay, and allow quantification of the magnitude of the recent ecological changes with respect to historical variability of the system.

Closing the cycle on food and energy resource flows in order to create a more sustainable rural economy in Nicaragua

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Casillas, C. E.

2009-12-01

The ecologically sustainable development of economies is often discussed at the urban scale and framed in terms of the environmental threats that accompany rapid growth. The dynamics of rural economies are less complex and provide valuable insights into how resource flows may be better utilized, as well what are the critical roles and relationships of government and society. This paper will present a case study of economic and ecologically appropriate innovations that can be made to the production and consumption behavior within a community on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua. Orinoco is a small Garifuna community situated on the Pearl Lagoon basin. It has a population of over 1000 people and its economy is primarily based on the exploitation of declining shrimp and fish resources. This paper will quantify the monetary and material resource flows comprising the current economy, and present technically viable alternatives that would utilize the abundant natural resources in a more ecologically sustainable manner, while decreasing the dependence on imported food and fuels. Specifically, the paper will describe how recently implemented projects of energy conservation can be coupled with improved agricultural and fishing practices in order to meet local and external market demands for fish and vegetable oil. Secondary products can be utilized to eliminate the dependence on imported liquid and gas fossil fuels for cooking and electricity generation.

Host specialist clownfishes are environmental niche generalists.

PubMed

Litsios, Glenn; Kostikova, Anna; Salamin, Nicolas

2014-11-22

Why generalist and specialist species coexist in nature is a question that has interested evolutionary biologists for a long time. While the coexistence of specialists and generalists exploiting resources on a single ecological dimension has been theoretically and empirically explored, biological systems with multiple resource dimensions (e.g. trophic, ecological) are less well understood. Yet, such systems may provide an alternative to the classical theory of stable evolutionary coexistence of generalist and specialist species on a single resource dimension. We explore such systems and the potential trade-offs between different resource dimensions in clownfishes. All species of this iconic clade are obligate mutualists with sea anemones yet show interspecific variation in anemone host specificity. Moreover, clownfishes developed variable environmental specialization across their distribution. In this study, we test for the existence of a relationship between host-specificity (number of anemones associated with a clownfish species) and environmental-specificity (expressed as the size of the ecological niche breadth across climatic gradients). We find a negative correlation between host range and environmental specificities in temperature, salinity and pH, probably indicating a trade-off between both types of specialization forcing species to specialize only in a single direction. Trade-offs in a multi-dimensional resource space could be a novel way of explaining the coexistence of generalist and specialists. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Defining ecological and economical hydropoweroperations: a framework for managing dam releasesto meet multiple conflicting objectives

USGS Publications Warehouse

Irwin, Elise R.

2014-01-01

Hydroelectric dams are a flexible source of power, provide flood control, and contribute to the economic growth of local communities through real-estate and recreation. Yet the impoundment of rivers can alter and fragment miles of critical riverine habitat needed for other competing needs such as downstream consumptive water use, fish and wildlife population viability, or other forms of recreation. Multiple conflicting interests can compromise progressive management especially with recognized uncertainties related to whether management actions will fulfill the objectives of policy makers, resource managers and/or facility owners. Decision analytic tools were used in a stakeholder-driven process to develop and implement a template for evaluation and prediction of the effects of water resource management of multiple-use systems under the context provided by R.L. Harris Dam on the Tallapoosa River, Alabama, USA. The approach provided a transparent and structured framework for decision-making and incorporated both existing and new data to meet multiple management objectives. Success of the template has been evaluated by the stakeholder governing body in an adaptive resource management framework since 2005 and is ongoing. Consequences of management of discharge at the dam were evaluated annually relative to stakeholder satisfaction to allow for adjustment of both management scenarios and objectives. This template can be applied to attempt to resolve conflict inherent in many dam-regulated systems where management decisions impact diverse values of stakeholders.

In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) Capability Roadmap Progress Review

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sanders, Gerald B.; Duke, Michael

2005-01-01

A progress review on In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) capability is presented. The topics include: 1) In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) Capability Roadmap: Level 1; 2) ISRU Emphasized Architecture Overview; 3) ISRU Capability Elements: Level 2 and below; and 4) ISRU Capability Roadmap Wrap-up.

Ecological study of the effects of power plants on benthic macroplant microcosms in subtropical and tropical estuaries. Annual progress report, 1977-1978

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

Thorhaug, A.; Schroeder, P.

1978-01-01

The major efforts have been to examine the effects of energy-related problems on nearshore environments in the subtropics and tropics of the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico regions of the United States and the Caribbean. Two fossil fuel and two nuclear plants were examined as the their effects on a nearshore seagrass community at Turkey Point in south Biscayne Bay, Dade County, Florida. The effects of heat toxicity, trace (heavy) metals and high salinities, the community processes and dynamics of nearshore subtropical and tropical seagrass ecosystems, and primary productivity and physiology of the dominant food chain organisms in these ecosystemsmore » have been studied in detail in both field and laboratory studies. A model for future prediction of pollutants emanating from energy-related resources and their effect on seagrass ecosystems has been included.« less

Misconceptions Are “So Yesterday!”

PubMed Central

Maskiewicz, April Cordero; Lineback, Jennifer Evarts

2013-01-01

At the close of the Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research conference in July 2012, one of the organizers made the comment: “Misconceptions are so yesterday.” Within the community of learning sciences, misconceptions are yesterday's news, because the term has been aligned with eradication and/or replacement of conceptions, and our knowledge about how people learn has progressed past this idea. This essay provides an overview of the discussion within the learning sciences community surrounding the term “misconceptions” and how the education community's thinking has evolved with respect to students’ conceptions. Using examples of students’ incorrect ideas about evolution and ecology, we show that students’ naïve ideas can provide the resources from which to build scientific understanding. We conclude by advocating that biology education researchers use one or more appropriate alternatives in place of the term misconception whenever possible. PMID:24006383

Application of remote sensing data to surveys of the Alaskan environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Belon, A. E.; Miller, J. M.

1974-01-01

Coupling of satellite data to resource management problems in Alaska is implemented through feasibility studies of applicability of Landsat data to specific environmental surveys in ecology, agriculture, hydrology, wildlife management, oceanography, geology, etc.; and using the results of these studies to extend the benefits of satellite data applications to the operational needs of mission-oriented agencies of federal, state, and regional governments, as well as private industry. Activities designed to encourage the participation of users in the Landsat program at levels most appropriate to the users' interests are described and include: observation, coordination, and information exchange; training courses and workshops; data exchange; consulting services; data processing services; user participation in University research projects; and university participation in the operational projects of user agencies. Progress in these areas is reported. The effectiveness of this broad-based approach in overcoming the initial apprehensiveness of users is demonstrated.

Toward actionable science: Empowering ecologists to engage in the process of translation through decision-maker and stakeholder partnerships

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Enquist, C.; Jackson, S. T.; Garfin, G. M.

2017-12-01

Translational ecology is an approach by which ecologists, stakeholders, and decision-makers work collaboratively to develop and deliver ecological research that, ideally, results in actionable science that leads to improved environmental decision-making. We analyzed a diverse array of real-world case studies and distilled six principles that characterize the practice of translational ecology: communication, commitment, collaboration, engagement, process, and decision-framing. In this talk, we highlight a subset of the case studies that illustrate these principles. Notably, we found that translational ecology is distinct from both basic and applied ecological research. As a practice, the approach deliberately extends research beyond theory or opportunistic applications, motivated by a search for outcomes that directly serve the needs of natural resource managers and decision-makers. Translational ecology is also distinct from knowledge co-production in that it does not require deep engagement between collaborators, although incorporating differing modes of co-production relative to the decision context, associated time frame, and available financial resources can greatly enhance the translational approach. Although there is a need for incentives to pursue in this type of work, we found that the creativity and context-specific knowledge of resource managers, practitioners, and decision-makers informs and enriches the scientific process, helping shape actionable science. Moreover, the process of addressing research questions arising from on-the-ground management issues, rather than from the top-down or expert-oriented perspectives of traditional science, can foster the long-term trust and commitment that is critical for long-term, sustained engagement between partners. Now, perhaps more than ever, the climate and environmental issues facing society are complex, often politicized, and value-laden. We argue that ecological science should play a key role in informing these problems and ecologists can engage as important partners committed to finding solutions. More broadly, scientists that embrace translational approaches are poised to make science-informed decision-making a reality in the face of a rapidly changing global environment.

Middle Childhood Antecedents to Progressions in Male Adolescent Substance Use: An Ecological Analysis of Risk and Protection.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dishion, Thomas J.; Capaldi, Deborah M.; Yoerger, Karen

1999-01-01

This study examined antecedents to early patterned alcohol and tobacco use and marijuana experimentation between ages 11 and 16 for an at-risk male sample. Findings suggested that family, peer, and child characteristics were inextricably connected within an ecology of development. A structural equation prediction model suggested a higher order…

Crisis on campus: Eating disorder intervention from a developmental-ecological perspective.

PubMed

Taylor, Julia V; Gibson, Donna M

2016-01-01

The purpose of this article is to review a crisis intervention using the developmental-ecological protocol (Collins and Collins, 2005) with a college student presenting with symptomatology of an active eating disorder. Participants included University Wellness Center employees responding to the crisis. Methods include an informal review of the crisis intervention response and application of the ABCDE developmental-ecological crisis model. Results reported include insight into crisis intervention when university counseling and health center is not available as resources. ABCDE Developmental-ecological model recommendations for university faculty and staff are included.

Study on the Progress of Ecological Fragility Assessment in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Pei; Hou, Kang; Chang, Yue; Li, Xuxiang; Zhang, Yunwei

2018-02-01

The basic elements of human survival are based on the ecological environment. The development of social economic and the security of the ecological environment are closely linked and interact with each other. The fragility of the environment directly affects the stability of the regional ecosystem and the sustainable development of the ecological environment. As part of the division of the national ecological security, the assessment of ecological fragility has become a hot and difficult issue in environmental research, and researchers at home and abroad have systematically studied the causes and states of ecological fragility. The assessment of regional ecological fragility is a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the unbalanced distribution of ecological environment factors caused by human socio-economic activities or changes in ecosystems. At present, researches on ecological fragility has not formed a complete and unified index assessment system, and the unity of the assessment model has a direct impact on the accuracy of the index weights. Therefore, the discussion on selection of ecological fragility indexes and the improvement of ecological fragility assessment model is necessary, which is good for the improvement of ecological fragility assessment system in China.

Ecology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ternjej, Ivancica; Mihaljevic, Zlatko

2017-10-01

Ecology is a science that studies the mutual interactions between organisms and their environment. The fundamental subject of interest in ecology is the individual. Topics of interest to ecologists include the diversity, distribution and number of particular organisms, as well as cooperation and competition between organisms, both within and among ecosystems. Today, ecology is a multidisciplinary science. This is particularly true when the subject of interest is the ecosystem or biosphere, which requires the knowledge and input of biologists, chemists, physicists, geologists, geographists, climatologists, hydrologists and many other experts. Ecology is applied in a science of restoration, repairing disturbed sites through human intervention, in natural resource management, and in environmental impact assessments.

A Learning Progression for Water in Socio-Ecological Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gunckel, Kristin L.; Covitt, Beth A.; Salinas, Ivan; Anderson, Charles W.

2012-01-01

Providing model-based accounts (explanations and predictions) of water and substances in water moving through environmental systems is an important practice for environmental science literacy and necessary for citizens confronting global and local water quantity and quality issues. In this article we present a learning progression for water in…

[Urban ecological risk assessment: a review].

PubMed

Wang, Mei-E; Chen, Wei-Ping; Peng, Chi

2014-03-01

With the development of urbanization and the degradation of urban living environment, urban ecological risks caused by urbanization have attracted more and more attentions. Based on urban ecology principles and ecological risk assessment frameworks, contents of urban ecological risk assessment were reviewed in terms of driven forces, risk resources, risk receptors, endpoints and integrated approaches for risk assessment. It was suggested that types and degrees of urban economical and social activities were the driven forces for urban ecological risks. Ecological functional components at different levels in urban ecosystems as well as the urban system as a whole were the risk receptors. Assessment endpoints involved in changes of urban ecological structures, processes, functional components and the integrity of characteristic and function. Social-ecological models should be the major approaches for urban ecological risk assessment. Trends for urban ecological risk assessment study should focus on setting a definite protection target and criteria corresponding to assessment endpoints, establishing a multiple-parameter assessment system and integrative assessment approaches.

Environmental change makes robust ecological networks fragile

USGS Publications Warehouse

Strona, Giovanni; Lafferty, Kevin D.

2016-01-01

Complex ecological networks appear robust to primary extinctions, possibly due to consumers’ tendency to specialize on dependable (available and persistent) resources. However, modifications to the conditions under which the network has evolved might alter resource dependability. Here, we ask whether adaptation to historical conditions can increase community robustness, and whether such robustness can protect communities from collapse when conditions change. Using artificial life simulations, we first evolved digital consumer-resource networks that we subsequently subjected to rapid environmental change. We then investigated how empirical host–parasite networks would respond to historical, random and expected extinction sequences. In both the cases, networks were far more robust to historical conditions than new ones, suggesting that new environmental challenges, as expected under global change, might collapse otherwise robust natural ecosystems.

Bioregional Assessments: Determining the Impacts of Coal Resource Development on Water Resources in Australia through Groundwater, Surface Water and Ecological Modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peeters, L. J.; Post, D. A.; Crosbie, R.; Holland, K.

2017-12-01

While extraction of methane from shale gas deposits has been the principal source of the recent expansion of the industry in the United States, in Australia extraction of methane from coal bed methane deposits (termed `coal seam gas' in Australia) has been the focus to date. The two sources of methane share many of the same characteristics including the potential requirement for hydraulic fracturing. However, as coal seam gas deposits generally occur at shallower depths than shale gas, the potential impacts of extraction on surface and groundwater resources may be of even greater concern. The Australian Federal Government commissioned a multi-disciplinary programme of bioregional assessments to improve understanding of the potential impacts of coal seam gas and large coal mining activities on water resources and water-dependent assets across six bioregions Australia. A bioregional assessment is a transparent scientific analysis of the ecology, hydrology, geology and hydrogeology of a bioregion with explicit assessment of the potential direct, indirect and cumulative impacts of coal seam gas and large coal mining development on water resources. The first step in the analysis is to establish the most likely scenario for coal development in each region and establish a causal pathway linking coal development to impacts to the social, economic and ecological functioning of water resources. This forms the basis for a sequence of probabilistic geological, hydrogeological, hydrological and ecological models to quantify the probability of potential impacts. This suite of models is developed independent of the proponents and regulators of coal resource developments and so can provide unbiased information to all stakeholders. To demonstrate transparency of the modelling, all inputs, outputs and executables will be available from http://www.bioregionalassessments.gov.au. The analysis delineated a zone of potential hydrological change for each region, outside of which impacts from coal development are very unlikely. Within each zone, the analysis provides a regional estimate of the likely impacts and identifies the major knowledge and data gaps. This information provides a framework for further local study.

ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

EPA Science Inventory

This report was prepared by an interagency work group under the auspices of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources (CENR). The objective of the work group was to write a document on the major uses of ecological risk assessment by Federal agencies. Eight task groups we...

Estimating anthropogenic ecological water stress in the US great lakes region

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Anthropocentric water resources management that prioritizes socio-economic growth can cause harmful ecological water stress by depriving aquatic ecosystems of the water needed to sustain habitats. It is important to better understand the impacts of water withdrawal by different economic sectors (e.g...

The Rapid Benefit Indicators (RBI) Approach: A Process for Assessing the Social Benefits of Ecological Restoration

EPA Science Inventory

Environmental managers face difficult decisions about allocating resources to the most beneficial projects. Focusing solely on ecological outcomes can lead to missed opportunities to provide social benefits, yet few methods exist to easily compare the social benefits of ecologica...

Environmental Awareness: Just a Pane of Glass Away.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kopchynski, Kevin

1982-01-01

Highlights several basic ecological principles and suggests corresponding classroom activities for grades five to eight that revolve around a freshwater aquarium. Basic ecological concepts, adaptations, characteristics of aquatic habitats, and pollution problems are outlined in separate tables. A short list of resource materials is included.…

Tallgrass prairie ants: their species composition, ecological roles, and response to management

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Ants are highly influential organisms in terrestrial ecosystems, including the tallgrass prairie, one of the most endangered ecosystems in North America. Through their tunneling, ants affect soil properties and resource availability for animals and plants. Ants also have important ecological roles a...

Melding Classroom Instruction With Real-World Problem-Solving.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gannon, John E.; Fairchild, G. Winfield

1983-01-01

Describes a course used to teach freshwater ecology to graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Michigan Biological Station. Explains how students receive an introduction to lake ecology and work on applied resource management questions concerning local lakes and streams. Gives case study examples. (SB)

Effectiveness of marine protected areas in managing the drivers of ecosystem change: a case of Mnazi Bay Marine Park, Tanzania.

PubMed

Machumu, Milali Ernest; Yakupitiyage, Amararatne

2013-04-01

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are being promoted in Tanzania to mitigate the drivers of ecosystem change such as overfishing and other anthropogenic impacts on marine resources. The effectiveness of MPAs in managing those drivers was assessed in three ecological zones, seafront, mangrove, and riverine of Mnazi Bay Marine Park, using Participatory Community Analysis techniques, questionnaire survey, checklist and fishery resource assessment methods. Eleven major drivers of ecosystem change were identified. Resource dependence had a major effect in all ecological zones of the park. The results indicated that the park's legislations/regulations, management procedures, and conservation efforts are reasonably effective in managing its resources. The positive signs accrued from conservation efforts have been realized by the communities in terms of increased catch/income, awareness and compliance. However, some natural and anthropogenic drivers continued to threaten the park's sustainability. Furthermore, implementation of resource use and benefit sharing mechanisms still remained a considerable challenge to be addressed.

The spatial optimism model research for the regional land use based on the ecological constraint

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

XU, K.; Lu, J.; Chi, Y.

2013-12-01

The study focuses on the Yunnan-Guizhou (i.e. Yunnan province and Guizhou province) Plateau in China. Since the Yunnan-Guizhou region consists of closed basins, the land resources suiting for development are in a shortage, and the ecological problems in the area are quite complicated. In such circumstance, in order to get the applicable basins area and distribution, certain spatial optimism model is needed. In this research, Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and land use data are used to get the boundary rules of the basins distribution. Furthermore, natural risks, ecological risks and human-made ecological risks are integrated to be analyzed. Finally, the spatial overlay analysis method is used to model the developable basins area and distribution for industries and urbanization. The study process can be divided into six steps. First, basins and their distribution need to be recognized. In this way, the DEM data is used to extract the geomorphology characteristics. The plaque regions with gradient under eight degrees are selected. Among these regions, the total area of the plaque with the area above 8 km2 is 54,000 km2, 10% of the total area. These regions are selected to the potential application of industries and urbanization. In the later five steps, analyses are aimed at these regions. Secondly, the natural risks are analyzed. The conditions of the earthquake, debris flow and rainstorm and flood are combined to classify the natural risks. Thirdly, the ecological risks are analyzed containing the ecological sensibility and ecosystem service function importance. According to the regional ecologic features, the sensibility containing the soil erosion, acid rain, stony desertification and survive condition factors is derived and classified according to the medium value to get the ecological sensibility partition. The ecosystem service function importance is classified and divided considering the biology variation protection and water conservation factors. The fourth step is the man-made ecological risks analysis. The mineral resources exploitation, forest resources developing, farming, tourism, industrialization and urbanization are integrated to derive the potential ecological risks made by human activities. The risks weight are given using the expert marking method, Then the man-made ecological risks are classified and divided among the regions. In the fifth step, the comprehensive ecological controlling divisions are obtained based on the above factors classification. At last, the applicable regions and distribution are derived using the spatial overlay analysis removing the higher ecological risks area and considering the land use status. In conclusion, based on the above comprehensive analyses, the applicable basins area are 2,575 km2 and 1,011 km2 respectively for the Yunnan province and Guizhou province. The amount is less than 1% of the perspective province total area focusing on the central part of the two provinces.

Social-ecological interactions, management panaceas, and the future of wild fish populations

PubMed Central

van Poorten, Brett T.; Arlinghaus, Robert; Daedlow, Katrin; Haertel-Borer, Susanne S.

2011-01-01

We explored the social and ecological outcomes associated with emergence of a management panacea designed to govern a stochastic renewable natural resource. To that end, we constructed a model of a coupled social-ecological system of recreational fisheries in which a manager supports naturally fluctuating stocks by stocking fish in response to harvest-driven satisfaction of resource users. The realistic assumption of users remembering past harvest experiences when exploiting a stochastically fluctuating fish population facilitates the emergence of a stocking-based management panacea over time. The social benefits of panacea formation involve dampening natural population fluctuations and generating stability of user satisfaction. It also maintains the resource but promotes the eventual replacement of wild fish by hatchery-descended fish. Our analyses show this outcome is particularly likely when hatchery-descended fish are reasonably fit (e.g., characterized by similar survival relative to wild fish) and/or when natural recruitment of the wild population is low (e.g., attributable to habitat deterioration), which leaves the wild population with little buffer against competition by stocked fish. The potential for release-based panacea formation is particularly likely under user-based management regimes and should be common in a range of social-ecological systems (e.g., fisheries, forestry), whenever user groups are entitled to engage in release or replanting strategies. The net result will be the preservation of a renewable resource through user-based incentives, but the once natural populations are likely to be altered and to host nonnative genotypes. This risks other ecosystem services and the future of wild populations. PMID:21742983

Values: the dynamic nexus between biology, ecology and culture.

PubMed

Fischer, Ronald; Boer, Diana

2016-04-01

Values are motivational goals that influence attitudes, behaviors and evaluations. Cross-cultural evidence suggests that values show a systematic structure. Personal and cultural variations in the value structure, value priorities and value links to attitudes, behavior and well-being reflect contextual constraints and affordances in the environment, suggesting that values function as broadly adaptive psychological structures. The internal structure of values (the descriptive value system) becomes more clearly differentiated in more economically developed contexts. Value priorities shift toward more autonomous, self-expressive and individualistic orientations with greater economic resources and less ecological stress. In addition to systematic changes in internal structure, value links to attitudes, behaviors and well-being are influenced by economic, ecological and institutional contexts. Values are more likely to be expressed in attitudes and behavior if individuals have greater access to economic resources, experience less institutional and ecological stress or when the values reinforce culturally normative behavior. Frontiers for further value research include a greater examination of the neural underpinnings of values in specific ecological contexts and across the lifespan; and an examination of how values are behaviorally instantiated in different environments. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Construction and evaluation of ecological network in Poyang Lake Eco-economic Zone, China.

PubMed

Chen, Xiao Ping; Chen, Wen Bo

2016-05-01

Large-scale ecological patches play an important role in regional biodiversity conservation. However, with the rapid progress of China's urbanization, human disturbance on the environment is becoming stronger. Large-scale ecological patches will degrade not only in quantity, but also in quality, threatening the connections among them due to isolation and seriously affecting the biodiversity protection. Taking Poyang Lake Eco-economic Zone as a case, this paper established the potential ecological corridors by minimum cost model and GIS technique taking the impacts of landscape types, slope and human disturbance into consideration. Then, based on gravity quantitative model, we analyzed the intensity of ecological interactions between patches, and the potential ecological corridors were divided into two classes for sake of protection. Finally, the important ecological nodes and breaking points were identified, and the structure of the potential ecological network was analyzed. The results showed that forest and cropland were the main landscape types of ecological corridor composition, interaction between ecological patches differed obviously and the structure of the composed regional ecological network was complex with high connectivity and closure. It might provide a scientific basis for the protection of biodiversity and ecological network optimization in Poyang Lake Eco-economic Zone.

Investigating the Marine Environment and Its Resources, Part I.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lien, Violetta F.

This is the first of two volumes comprising a resource unit designed to help students become more knowledgeable about the marine environment and its resources. Included in this volume are discussions of geography of the Gulf of Mexico, geology, physical characteristics of the marine environment, marine ecology, and ocean/land interaction.…

Capturing subregional variability in regional-scale climate change vulnerability assessments of natural resources

Treesearch

Polly C. Buotte; David L. Peterson; Kevin S. McKelvey; Jeffrey A. Hicke

2016-01-01

Natural resource vulnerability to climate change can depend on the climatology and ecological conditions at a particular site. Here we present a conceptual framework for incorporating spatial variability in natural resource vulnerability to climate change in a regional-scale assessment. The framework was implemented in the first regional-scale vulnerability...

Agri-Business, Natural Resources, Marine Science; Grade 7. Cluster V.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Calhoun, Olivia H.

A curriculum guide for grade 7, the document is devoted to the occupational clusters "Agri-business, Natural Resources, and Marine Science." It is divided into five units: natural resources, ecology, landscaping, conservation, oceanography. Each unit is introduced by a statement of the topic, the unit's purpose, main ideas, quests, and a…

Vegetation management and protection research: Disturbance processes and ecosystem management

Treesearch

Robert D. Averill; Louise Larson; Jim Saveland; Philip Wargo; Jerry Williams; Melvin Bellinger

1994-01-01

This paper is intended to broaden awareness and help develop consensus among USDA Forest Service scientists and resource managers about the role and significance of disturbance in ecosystem dynamics and, hence, resource management. To have an effective ecosystem management policy, resource managers and the public must understand the nature of ecological resiliency and...

Linking ecological and social scales for natural resource management

Treesearch

Kristiina A. Vogt; Morgan Grove; Heidi Asjornsen; Keely B. Maxwell; Daniel J. Vogt; Ragnhildur Sigurdardottir; Bruce C. Larson; Leo Schibli; Michael Dove

2002-01-01

Natural resource management has moved from a single disciplinary and one resource management approach to an interdisciplinary and ecosystem-based approach. Many conceptual models are being developed to understand and implement ecosystem management and forest certification initiatives that require an integration of data from both the social and natural systems (Vogt...

Exposing ecological and economic costs of the research-implementation gap and compromises in decision making.

PubMed

Kareksela, Santtu; Moilanen, Atte; Ristaniemi, Olli; Välivaara, Reima; Kotiaho, Janne S

2018-02-01

The frequently discussed gap between conservation science and practice is manifest in the gap between spatial conservation prioritization plans and their implementation. We analyzed the research-implementation gap of one zoning case by comparing results of a spatial prioritization analysis aimed at avoiding ecological impact of peat mining in a regional zoning process with the final zoning plan. We examined the relatively complex planning process to determine the gaps among research, zoning, and decision making. We quantified the ecological costs of the differing trade-offs between ecological and socioeconomic factors included in the different zoning suggestions by comparing the landscape-level loss of ecological features (species occurrences, habitat area, etc.) between the different solutions for spatial allocation of peat mining. We also discussed with the scientists and planners the reasons for differing zoning suggestions. The implemented plan differed from the scientists suggestion in that its focus was individual ecological features rather than all the ecological features for which there were data; planners and decision makers considered effects of peat mining on areas not included in the prioritization analysis; zoning was not truly seen as a resource-allocation process and not emphasized in general minimizing ecological losses while satisfying economic needs (peat-mining potential); and decision makers based their prioritization of sites on site-level information showing high ecological value and on single legislative factors instead of finding a cost-effective landscape-level solution. We believe that if the zoning and decision-making processes are very complex, then the usefulness of science-based prioritization tools is likely to be reduced. Nevertheless, we found that high-end tools were useful in clearly exposing trade-offs between conservation and resource utilization. © 2017 Society for Conservation Biology.

Integration of research infrastructures and ecosystem models toward development of predictive ecology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Y.; Huang, Y.; Jiang, J.; MA, S.; Saruta, V.; Liang, G.; Hanson, P. J.; Ricciuto, D. M.; Milcu, A.; Roy, J.

2017-12-01

The past two decades have witnessed rapid development in sensor technology. Built upon the sensor development, large research infrastructure facilities, such as National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) and FLUXNET, have been established. Through networking different kinds of sensors and other data collections at many locations all over the world, those facilities generate large volumes of ecological data every day. The big data from those facilities offer an unprecedented opportunity for advancing our understanding of ecological processes, educating teachers and students, supporting decision-making, and testing ecological theory. The big data from the major research infrastructure facilities also provides foundation for developing predictive ecology. Indeed, the capability to predict future changes in our living environment and natural resources is critical to decision making in a world where the past is no longer a clear guide to the future. We are living in a period marked by rapid climate change, profound alteration of biogeochemical cycles, unsustainable depletion of natural resources, and deterioration of air and water quality. Projecting changes in future ecosystem services to the society becomes essential not only for science but also for policy making. We will use this panel format to outline major opportunities and challenges in integrating research infrastructure and ecosystem models toward developing predictive ecology. Meanwhile, we will also show results from an interactive model-experiment System - Ecological Platform for Assimilating Data into models (EcoPAD) - that have been implemented at the Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Climatic and Environmental change (SPRUCE) experiment in Northern Minnesota and Montpellier Ecotron, France. EcoPAD is developed by integrating web technology, eco-informatics, data assimilation techniques, and ecosystem modeling. EcoPAD is designed to streamline data transfer seamlessly from research infrastructure facilities to model simulation, data assimilation, and ecological forecasting.

Optimal conservation resource allocation under variable economic and ecological time discounting rates in boreal forest.

PubMed

Mazziotta, Adriano; Pouzols, Federico Montesino; Mönkkönen, Mikko; Kotiaho, Janne S; Strandman, Harri; Moilanen, Atte

2016-09-15

Resource allocation to multiple alternative conservation actions is a complex task. A common trade-off occurs between protection of smaller, expensive, high-quality areas versus larger, cheaper, partially degraded areas. We investigate optimal allocation into three actions in boreal forest: current standard forest management rules, setting aside of mature stands, or setting aside of clear-cuts. We first estimated how habitat availability for focal indicator species and economic returns from timber harvesting develop through time as a function of forest type and action chosen. We then developed an optimal resource allocation by accounting for budget size and habitat availability of indicator species in different forest types. We also accounted for the perspective adopted towards sustainability, modeled via temporal preference and economic and ecological time discounting. Controversially, we found that in boreal forest set-aside followed by protection of clear-cuts can become a winning cost-effective strategy when accounting for habitat requirements of multiple species, long planning horizon, and limited budget. It is particularly effective when adopting a long-term sustainability perspective, and accounting for present revenues from timber harvesting. The present analysis assesses the cost-effective conditions to allocate resources into an inexpensive conservation strategy that nevertheless has potential to produce high ecological values in the future. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Monitoring the condition of natural resources in US national parks.

PubMed

Fancy, S G; Gross, J E; Carter, S L

2009-04-01

The National Park Service has developed a long-term ecological monitoring program for 32 ecoregional networks containing more than 270 parks with significant natural resources. The monitoring program assists park managers in developing a broad-based understanding of the status and trends of park resources as a basis for making decisions and working with other agencies and the public for the long-term protection of park ecosystems. We found that the basic steps involved in planning and designing a long-term ecological monitoring program were the same for a range of ecological systems including coral reefs, deserts, arctic tundra, prairie grasslands, caves, and tropical rainforests. These steps involve (1) clearly defining goals and objectives, (2) compiling and summarizing existing information, (3) developing conceptual models, (4) prioritizing and selecting indicators, (5) developing an overall sampling design, (6) developing monitoring protocols, and (7) establishing data management, analysis, and reporting procedures. The broad-based, scientifically sound information obtained through this systems-based monitoring program will have multiple applications for management decision-making, research, education, and promoting public understanding of park resources. When combined with an effective education program, monitoring results can contribute not only to park issues, but also to larger quality-of-life issues that affect surrounding communities and can contribute significantly to the environmental health of the nation.

[Evaluation of land resources carrying capacity of development zone based on planning environment impact assessment].

PubMed

Fu, Shi-Feng; Zhang, Ping; Jiang, Jin-Long

2012-02-01

Assessment of land resources carrying capacity is the key point of planning environment impact assessment and the main foundation to determine whether the planning could be implemented or not. With the help of the space analysis function of Geographic Information System, and selecting altitude, slope, land use type, distance from resident land, distance from main traffic roads, and distance from environmentally sensitive area as the sensitive factors, a comprehensive assessment on the ecological sensitivity and its spatial distribution in Zhangzhou Merchants Economic and Technological Development Zone, Fujian Province of East China was conducted, and the assessment results were combined with the planning land layout diagram for the ecological suitability analysis. In the Development Zone, 84.0% of resident land, 93.1% of industrial land, 86.0% of traffic land, and 76. 0% of other constructive lands in planning were located in insensitive and gently sensitive areas, and thus, the implement of the land use planning generally had little impact on the ecological environment, and the land resources in the planning area was able to meet the land use demand. The assessment of the population carrying capacity with ecological land as the limiting factor indicated that in considering the highly sensitive area and 60% of the moderately sensitive area as ecological land, the population within the Zone in the planning could reach 240000, and the available land area per capita could be 134.0 m2. Such a planned population scale is appropriate, according to the related standards of constructive land.

An introduction to the special issue on ecological sites

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The establishment of the Rangeland Interagency Ecological Site Manual by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Forest Service (FS), and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) heralds a new era of rangeland management in the United States (http://www.fs.fed.us/biology/soil/Signed_RIESM_2010...

Freshwater Ecology. LC Science Tracer Bullet.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Niskern, Diana, Comp.

Freshwater ecosystems include lakes, ponds, streams, rivers, and certain types of wetlands. This literature and resources guide is not intended to be a comprehensive bibliography on freshwater ecology; the guide is designed--as the name of the series implies--to put the reader or student "on target." Other literature guides related to…

The role of ecological monitoring in managing wilderness

Treesearch

Peter B. Landres

1995-01-01

Good management requires good information. Monitoring provides this information when it is structured into the process of management, well designed and executed. As federal and state agencies strive to implement a management paradigm based on sustaining ecosystems, ecological information becomes a vital part of managing natural resources. Inventory and monitoring...

Ecological Unequal Exchange: International Trade and Uneven Utilization of Environmental Space in the World System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rice, James

2007-01-01

We evaluate the argument that international trade influences disproportionate cross-national utilization of global renewable natural resources. Such uneven dynamics are relevant to the consideration of inequitable appropriation of environmental space in particular and processes of ecological unequal exchange more generally. Using OLS regression…

Responses to climate change in hot desert ecosystems: connecting local to global scales

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The consequences of connectivity in resources, propagules, and information to the interplay between drivers and responses across scales can result in ecological dynamics that are not easily predicted based on local drivers. Three major classes of connectivity events link local ecological dynamics wi...

Industrial Ecology Approach to MSW Methodology Data Set

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

U.S. municipal solid waste data for the year 2012. This dataset is associated with the following publication:Smith , R., D. Sengupta, S. Takkellapati , and C. Lee. An industrial ecology approach to municipal solid wastemanagement: I. Methodology. Resources, Conservation and Recycling. Elsevier Science BV, Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS, 104: 311-316, (2015).

Application of Partial Least Squares (PLS) Regression to Determine Landscape-Scale Aquatic Resource Vulnerability in the Ozark Mountains

EPA Science Inventory

Partial least squares (PLS) analysis offers a number of advantages over the more traditionally used regression analyses applied in landscape ecology to study the associations among constituents of surface water and landscapes. Common data problems in ecological studies include: s...

The Hoosier-Shawnee Ecological assessment

Treesearch

Frank R., III, ed. Thompson; ed.

2004-01-01

This report is a scientific assessment of the characteristic composition, structure, and processes of ecosystems in the southern one-third of Illinois and Indiana and a small part of western Kentucky. It includes chapters on ecological sections and soils, water resources, forest, plants, and communities, aquatic animals, terrestrial animals, forest diseases and pests...

Traditional ecological knowledge: Applying principles of sustainability to wilderness resource management

Treesearch

Nancy C. Ratner; Davin L. Holen

2007-01-01

Traditional ecological knowledge within specific cultural and geographical contexts was explored during an interactive session at the 8th World Wilderness Congress to identify traditional principles of sustainability. Participants analyzed the traditional knowledge contained in ten posters from Canada and Alaska and identified and discussed the traditional principles...

A GIS APPLICATION AND RESOURCE TOOL FOR USE ON STUDIES OF THE LAKE TEXOMA ECOLOGICAL SYSTEM

EPA Science Inventory

Investigations are underway at Lake Texoma to develop tools and information needed to evaluate the transport and attenuation of contaminants and stressors in a lake ecosystem, and link them to observable ecological effects. The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA),
...

THE CONSEQUENCES OF LANDSCAPE CHANGE ON ECOLOGICAL RESOURCES: AN ASSESSMENT OF THE UNITED STATES MID-ATLANTIC REGION

EPA Science Inventory

Spatially explicit identification of changes in ecological conditions over large areas is key to targeting and prioritizing areas for environmental protection and restoration by managers at watershed, basin, and regional scales. A critical limitation to this point has bee...

METHODS FOR AQUATIC RESOURCE ASSESSMENT (MARA) FY 2008 - 2012

EPA Science Inventory

For the past 17 years, members of the Freshwater Ecology Branch (FEB) at EPA’s Western Ecology Division (WED) have been engaged in research to develop the concepts and tools that would allow EPA and it’s partners to monitor the status and trends in the condition of freshwater sys...

On the use of mulching to mitigate permafrost thaw due to linear disturbances in sub-arctic peatlands

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The presence or absence of permafrost significantly influences the hydrology and ecology of northern watersheds. Resource exploration activities are currently having noticeable effects on hydrological and ecological processes in sub-arctic peatlands. Disturbances such as seismic cutlines can result ...

Ecological function as a target for ecosystem-based management: Defining when change matters in decision making

EPA Science Inventory

Ecosystem-based management (EBM) accounts for both direct and indirect drivers of ecological change for decision making. Just as with direct management of a resource, EBM requires a definition of management thresholds that define when change in function is sufficient to merit ma...

Review of evaluation on ecological carrying capacity: The progress and trend of methodology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, S. F.; Xu, Y.; Liu, T. J.; Ye, J. M.; Pan, B. L.; Chu, C.; Peng, Z. L.

2018-02-01

The ecological carrying capacity (ECC) has been regarded as an important reference to indicate the level of regional sustainable development since the very beginning of twenty-first century. By a brief review of the main progress in ECC evaluation methodologies in recent five years, this paper systematically discusses the features and differences of these methods and expounds the current states and future development trend of ECC methodology. The result shows that further exploration in terms of the dynamic, comprehensive and intelligent assessment technologies needs to be provided in order to form a unified and scientific ECC methodology system and to produce a reliable basis for environmental-economic decision-makings.

Household resources and seasonal patterns of child growth in rural Timor-Leste.

PubMed

Spencer, Phoebe R; Sanders, Katherine A; Canisio Amaral, Pedro; Judge, Debra S

2017-01-01

This study aimed to determine through detailed contextual investigation the effects of seasonal resource shortages, and household and individual level differences, on child growth in rural Timor-Leste. We compared trends in growth across two rural Timorese villages with different ecologies. Heads of 104 households in Natarbora, Timor-Leste, were interviewed and resource levels assessed during the food shortage season. In these households, 337 children were measured for height, weight, and mid-upper arm circumference. World Health Organization standardized measures were calculated and compared with dry season measurements. Using hierarchical linear models, child growth was related to household resource levels. Results were then compared to data from rural mountainous Ossu, Timor-Leste. z BMI declined over the wet season when food resources were scarce compared with the dry season (P < .001). Both age and sex were strong predictors of child growth, with older children having worse z height-for-age (P = .001) and z weight-for-age (P < .001) and boys shorter for age than girls (P = .049). Children were taller in households with modern flushable toilets (P = .005). Agricultural strategies such as crop diversity and land cultivation were linked to child growth. Results parallel findings from Ossu on the effects of season, child age and sex, but not household level socioeconomic differences. Results highlight the importance of subsistence-based resource stabilization and of early intervention to prevent growth faltering. Predicting growth using ecological models requires small-scale investigation, as variation exists among rural areas within an ecologically and culturally diverse country. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.