Life Sciences Commons^™

Continent-Wide Survey Reveals Massive Decline In African Savannah Elephants, Michael J. Chase, Scott Schlossberg, Curtice R. Griffin, Philippe J.C. Bouché, Sintayehu W. Djene, Paul W. Elkan, Sam Ferreira, Falk Grossman, Edward Mtarima Kohi, Kelly Landen, Patrick Omondi, Alexis Peltier, S.A. Jeanetta Selier, Robert Sutcliffe

Environmental Conservation Faculty Publication Series

African elephants (Loxodonta africana) are imperiled by poaching and habitat loss. Despite global attention to the plight of elephants, their population sizes and trends are uncertain or unknown over much of Africa. To conserve this iconic species, conservationists need timely, accurate data on elephant populations. Here, we report the results of the Great Elephant Census (GEC), the first continent-wide, standardized survey of African savannah elephants. We also provide the first quantitative model of elephant population trends across Africa. We estimated a population of 352,271 savannah elephants on study sites in 18 countries, representing approximately 93% of all savannah …

Are We Missing Important Areas In Pelagic Marine Conservation? Redefining Conservation Hotspots In The Ocean, Dana K. Briscoe, Sara M. Maxwell, Raphael Kudela, Larry B. Crowder

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The protection of biodiversity is one of the most important goals in terrestrial and marine conservation. Marine conservation approaches have traditionally followed the example of terrestrial initiatives. However, patterns, processes, habitats, and threats differ greatly between the 2 systems - and even within the marine environment. As a result, there is still a lack of congruence as to how to best identify and prioritize conservation approaches moving from the static terrestrial and nearshore realm into a more fluid, 3-dimensional pelagic realm. To address this problem, we investigate how the conservation science literature has been used to inform and guide management …

Slides: Gwc Review Report, Larry Macdonnell

Innovations in Managing Western Water: New Approaches for Balancing Environmental, Social and Economic Outcomes (Martz Summer Conference, June 11-12)

Presenter: Larry MacDonnell, University of Colorado Law School

12 slides

Slides: Perspectives On Water Management In Arizona, Kathy Jacobs

Innovations in Managing Western Water: New Approaches for Balancing Environmental, Social and Economic Outcomes (Martz Summer Conference, June 11-12)

Presenter: Kathy Jacobs, Director, Center for Climate Adaptation Science and Solutions (CCASS), Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science, University of Arizona

25 slides

Slides: Moffat Collection System Project, Travis Bray

Innovations in Managing Western Water: New Approaches for Balancing Environmental, Social and Economic Outcomes (Martz Summer Conference, June 11-12)

Presenter: Travis Bray, Project Manager, Moffat Collection System Project, Denver Water

45 slides

Slides: Urban Water Reliability And The Salton Sea: Can We Have Both?, Michael Cohen

Innovations in Managing Western Water: New Approaches for Balancing Environmental, Social and Economic Outcomes (Martz Summer Conference, June 11-12)

Presenter: Michael Cohen, Senior Research Associate, Pacific Institute

29 slides

Slides: Six Decades Of Texas Water Planning, Ronald Kaiser

Innovations in Managing Western Water: New Approaches for Balancing Environmental, Social and Economic Outcomes (Martz Summer Conference, June 11-12)

Presenter: Ronald Kaiser, Professor of Water Law and Policy, Chair of Graduate Water Degree Program, Texas A&M University

32 slides

The Coastal Monitor: Vol. 1, No. 1, John Tanacredi Ph.D.

The Coastal Monitor

The Center for Environmental Research and Coastal Oceans Monitoring (CERCOM) is a scientific coastal research center and field station dedicated to exploring our global coastal environments and near-shore oceans. CERCOM is the field station support facility for all sciences at Molloy College and services the degree programs of Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Studies, with special attention to a B.S. degree in Earth and Environmental Studies. Located at the West Sayville Boat Basin on the Great South Bay, CERCOM is a 2,500 sq. ft. field station estuarine/ marine science laboratory where environmental monitoring and analysis is conducted 365 days a year.

A Popular And Potentially Sustainable Fishery Resource Under Pressure-Extinction Risk And Conservation Of Brazilian Sciaenidae (Teleostei: Perciformes), Ning L. Chao, Flávia L. Frédou, Manuel Haimovici, Monica B. Peres, Beth Polidoro, Marcelo Raseira, Rosana Subira, Kent E. Carpenter

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Croakers (Sciaenidae) are major fishery resource in Brazil; constituting 22% of marine and 9% of freshwater fishery landings. Croakers are subject to heavy fishing pressure throughout Brazil, but habitat alteration is also an important threat to regional populations. In this regional Sciaenidae assessment, each species was analyzed for relative risk of extinction, including the identification and quantification of the impact of major threats and existing conservation measures, based on application of the Categories and Criteria of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Of the 52 species of Sciaenid fishes (34 marine and 18 freshwater) present in Brazilian waters, the …

Effects Of Alternative Framing On The Publics Perceived Importance Of Environmental Conservation, Amanda E. Sorensen, Daniel Clark, Rebecca C. Jordan

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Effective communication of science to the general public is important for numerous reasons, including support for policy, funding, informed public decision making, among others. Prior research has found that scientists participating in public policy and public communication must frame their communication efforts in order to connect with audiences. A frame is the mechanism that individuals use to understand and interpret the world around them. Framing can encourage specific interpretations and reference points for a particular issue or event; especially when meaning is negotiated between the media and public audiences. In this study, we looked at the effect of framing within …

Habitat Use Of The Key Largo Woodrat (Neotoma Floridana Smalli), Lauren J. Barth

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Key Largo woodrats are an endangered subspecies with an extremely limited habitat. This study sought to understand woodrat habitat preferences in order to guide management. Woodrats build stick nests from natural and artificial materials, so nest distribution and nest occupancy were used as indicators of preference. Distribution was determined by nest surveys, and remote cameras were used to assess occupancy. Forest structure, human disturbance, nest, and animal presence metrics were also collected. More nests were found along abandoned roads than along forest transects and more artificial nests were occupied than natural nests. These findings indicate that woodrats prefer areas with …

Historic Distribution And Ecology Of Tall-Grass Prairie In Western Canada, Darcy C. Henderson, Nicola Koper

The Prairie Naturalist

Rapid settlement and agricultural development of western Canada in the late 1800s and early 1900s nearly eliminated the tall-grass prairie, and pre-empted a detailed description by ecologists. A combination of literature review and historical ecological analysis of soils, climate, and composition data are applied to estimate the historic distribution, and area occupied by tall-grass prairie in southern Manitoba and southeastern Saskatchewan, Canada. The resulting area estimate of 20,830 km² is more than three times any previously reported value. Some confusion of terms from the first half of the 1900s, and the impact of invasive species on vegetation patterns observed …

Concordance Between Phylogeographic And Biogeographic Boundaries In The Coral Triangle: Conservation Implications Based On Comparative Analyses Of Multiple Giant Clam Species, Timery S. Deboer, Maria Rio Abdon Naguit, Mark V. Erdmann, Maria Carmen A. Ablan-Lagman, Ambariyanto, Kent E. Carpenter, Abdul Hamid A. Toha, Paul H. Barber

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Marine habitats are in decline worldwide, precipitating a strong interest in marine conservation. The use of biogeographic data to designate ecoregions has had significant impacts on terrestrial conservation efforts. However, classification of marine environments into ecoregions has only become available in the last several years, based on biogeographic data supplemented by geomorphology, ocean currents, and water temperatures. Here we use a comparative phylogeographic approach to test for concordant phylogeographic patterns in three closely related species of Tridacna giant clams across the Coral Triangle, the most biodiverse marine region in the world and one of the most threatened. Data from a …

Wildlands Conservancy/Connick Ranch Research, Susie Van Kirk

Susie Van Kirk Papers

Susie Van Kirks research notes on the Wildlands Conservancy and Connick Ranch. Includes newspaper references, interviews, as well as deed, survey and patent information.

“Hariyo Ban Nepalko Dhan” (“Nepal’S Wealth Is The Green Forest”): The People’S Participation In Structuring Sustainable Development Through Community Forestry, Natasha Eulberg

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Community forestry has a long history in Nepal, and despite the nationalization of the country’s forests in the mid-twentieth century, current legislation determines that rights and execution of community forest management lies largely with community forest user groups (CFUGs). This research questions to what extent CFUGs truly represent autonomous bodies with the full power and ability to manage and utilize community forests and forest resources. This research also seeks to determine the impact and distribution of CFUG operations and benefits on CFUG members, and the ways in which CFUG management practices have impacted how group members perceive and interact with …

Rating Harms To Wildlife: A Survey Showing Convergence Between Conservation And Animal Welfare Views, S. Dubois, D. Fraser

Environment and Nature Conservation Collection

Human activities may cause conservation concerns when animal populations or ecosystems are harmed and animal welfare concerns when individuals are harmed. In general, people are concerned with one or the other, as the concepts may be regarded as separate or even at odds. An online purposive survey of 339 British Columbians explored differences between groups that varied by gender, residency, wildlife engagement level and value orientation (conservation-oriented or animal welfare-oriented), to see how they rated the level of harm to wildlife caused by different human activities. Women, urban residents, those with low wildlife engagement, and welfare-orientated participants generally scored activities …

Making Common Cause For Conservation: The Pinchot Institute And Grey Towers National Historic Site, 1963-2013, Char Miller

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Pinchot Institute for Conservation and the donation of the Pinchot family home Grey Towers to the U.S. Forest Service. In the following essay, historian and Pinchot biographer Char Miller discusses how the Institute is applying Gifford Pinchot’s principles to contemporary environmental issues. It is adapted from Seeking the Greatest Good: The Conservation Legacy of Gifford Pinchot, his new history of the Institute, and is published with kind permission of the University of Pittsburgh Press.

Habitat Characterization, Distribution, And Areal Extent Of Deep-Sea Coral Ecosystems Off Florida, Southeastern U.S.A., John K. Reed, Charles G. Messing, Brian K. Walker, Sandra Brooke, Thiago B.S. Correa, Myra Brouwer, Tina Udouj, Stephanie Farrington

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The deep-sea (200-1000 m) seafloor off the southeastern U.S. has a variety of extensive deep-sea coral ecosystem (DSCE) habitats including: deep-water coral mounds; various hard-bottom habitats off Florida including the Miami Terrace, Pourtales Terrace, and deep-water canyons (Agassiz and Tortugas Valleys); and deep island slopes off western Bahamas and northern Cuba. The dominant structure-forming scleractinian corals are Lophelia pertusa and Enallopsammia profunda; other structure-forming taxa include stylasterid corals, gorgonians, black corals, and sponges. This biota is associated with hard-bottom seafloor of variable high-relief topography which can be remotely identified from bathymetric data. NOAA bathymetric contour maps and digital elevation …

Development Of 11 Polymorphic Microsatellite Markers For Xylocarpus Granatum (Meliaceae) Using Next-Generation Sequencing Technology, Yuki Tomizawa, Yoshimi Shinmura, Alison K S Wee, Koji Takayama, Takeshi Asakawa, Orlex Baylen Yllano, Severino G. Salmo Iii, Erwin Riyanto Ardli, Nguyen Xuan Tung, Norhaslinda Binti Malekal, Onrizal Onrizal, Sankararamasubramanian H. Meenakshisundaram, Sarawood Sungkaew, Mohd Nazre Saleh, Bayu Adjie, Khin Khin Soe, Emiko Oguri, Noriaki Murakami, Yasuyuki Watano, Shigeyuki Baba, Edward L. Webb, Tadashi Kajita

Environmental Science Faculty Publications

Human impacts have seriously damaged mangroves, and conservation of mangroves will require information on local and regional population genetic structures. Here, we report the development and polymorphism of eleven novel microsatellite markers, developed using next- generation sequencing on 56 samples of widespread man- grove species Xylocarpus granatum (Meliaceae) from nine populations across the Indo-West Pacific region. All loci were found to be polymorphic, with the number of alleles per locus ranging from four to 19. In a population from Sabah (Malaysia), the mean observed and expected heterozygosity per locus was 0.59 and 0.58, respectively. No null allele, significant linkage disequilibrium …

Agenda: A Low-Carbon Energy Blueprint For The American West, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center, University Of Colorado Boulder. Renewable And Sustainable Energy Institute, Western Resource Advocates, Rocky Mountain Research Station (Fort Collins, Colo.)

A Low-Carbon Energy Blueprint for the American West (Martz Summer Conference, June 6-8)

The future of the planet may depend upon our ability to increase energy supplies even as we reduce carbon emissions. This conference will address how a low-carbon energy program might evolve with a particular focus on the American West. It will focus on the future of energy in the West--on a “managed transition” to a different energy mix, on the need to nest this effort in a framework that acknowledges interconnections, and on identifying the most salient opportunities to consider the legal, political, financial, and technical challenges.

Transcendental Thermodynamics, Richard E. Morel, George Fleck

Kahn Institute Projects

Thermodynamics is often viewed as a narrow, introspective discipline, trapped by its origins in the 18th and 19th centuries. By dramatic contrast, we show that the Fourth Law of Thermodynamics provides explanations and interpretations of all natural events, extending across artificial boundaries of tradition- al academic disciplines. The Fourth Law of Thermodynamics states that far-from-equilibrium systems increase entropy at the maximum rate available to them. This broadly inclusive paradigm applies to systems from molecules, to organisms, to the biosphere. The Fourth Law is the Law of Evolution. All systems that communicate with their environment exhibit self-organization and self-optimization, enabling the …

Northern Fulmars (Fulmarus Glacialis) As Bio-Indicators Of Endocrine Disrupting Plasticizers In The Marine Surface Environment., Olivia Feinstein

Summer Research

The plastics that make up over 10% of human waste are synthesized with phthalate plasticizers which are utilized in plastics as an additive to improve durability and flexibility. Many phthalates have been identified as endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and studies have shown dramatic deleterious effects as a result of species exposure to growing numbers of EDCs in the environment. Northern Fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis) are a northern hemisphere seabird species that forages opportunistically, meaning that they take advantage of a wide variety of different food sources, including inadvertent consumption of plastic. In addition to occupying space in the individuals’ …

Prescribed Grazing On Pasturelands, Lynn E. Sollenberger, Carmen T. Agouridis, Eric S. Vanzant, Alan J. Franzluebbers, Lloyd B. Owens

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Conservation Planning In A Cross-Cultural Context: The Wunambal Gaambera Healthy Country Project In The Kimberley, Western Australia, Heather Moorcroft, Emma Ignjic, Stuart Cowell, John Goonack, Sylvester Mangolomara, Janet Oobagooma, Regina Karadada, Dianna Williams, Neil Waina

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

This article illustrates how a conservation planning approach combined Indigenous knowledge and Western science to support Indigenous Traditional Owners to make decisions about managing their ancestral lands and seas, and communicate more strategically with external stakeholders.

Architecture And Conservation Of The Bacterial Dna Replication Machinery, An Underexploited Drug Target, Andrew Robinson, Rebecca J. Causer, Nicholas E. Dixon

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

"New antibiotics with novel modes of action are required to combat the growing threat posed by multi-drug resistant bacteria. Over the last decade, genome sequencing and other high-throughput techniques have provided tremendous insight into the molecular processes underlying cellular functions in a wide range of bacterial species. We can now use these data to assess the degree of conservation of certain aspects of bacterial physiology, to help choose the best cellular targets for development of new broad-spectrum antibacterials. DNA replication is a conserved and essential process, and the large number of proteins that interact to replicate DNA in bacteria are …

The Management Of Feral Pig Socio-Ecological Systems In Far North Queensland, Australia, Gabriela Shuster

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The development of management programs for socio-ecological systems that include multiple stakeholders is a complex process and requires careful evaluation and planning. This is particularly a challenge in the presence of intractable conflict. The feral pig (Sus scrofa) in Australia is part of one such socio-ecological system. There is a large and heterogeneous group of stakeholders interested in pig management. Pigs have diverse effects on wildlife and plant ecology, economic, health, and social sectors. This study used the feral pig management system as a vehicle to examine intractable conflict in socio-ecological systems. The purpose of the study was …

Empathy-Based Conservation: An Interdisciplinary Approach To Conservation Policy And Decision-Making, Kaitlyn Delashmutt

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

In the late 20^th century, neuroscientists in Italy discovered a neuron in the brain capable of mentally mimicking the emotions derived from the actions of others (Rizzolatti and Craighero, 2004). It is the process that makes your elbow ache when someone else knocks their elbow on the counter or the uncontrollable smile that creeps up when someone smiles at you. No questions asked, people intuitively sense what others are feeling. The old school of thought was that humans deduced through logic and reason the actions of others and interpreted the emotions through a rational process (Carew et al, 2008). …

Human-Wildlife Conflict On Small, Subsistence Farms In Kenya, Christopher B. Colonna

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

As human populations expand, wildlife suddenly competes with humans for resources and confrontation arises as a result. Rural Africa is typical of this problem. We surveyed local owners of small farms within the five villages surrounding Mount Kasigau in Southeast Kenya to quantify losses due to wildlife depredation on both subsistence and cash crops as well as to discover the patterns and variables influencing farmer-wildlife confrontations in the region. We found no statistically significant correlations among the value of damage per acre, the distance from the bush, or the distance to the nearest water source. We did find statistical significance …

Modeling Habitat Associations For The Common Loon (Gavia Immer) At Multiple Scales In Northeastern North America, Anne Kuhn, Jane Copeland, John Cooley, Harry Vogel, Kate Taylor, Diane Nacci, Peter V. August

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Common Loon (Gavia immer) is considered an emblematic and ecologically important example of aquatic-dependent wildlife in North America. The northern breeding range of Common Loon has contracted over the last century as a result of habitat degradation from human disturbance and lakeshore development. We focused on the state of New Hampshire, USA, where a long-term monitoring program conducted by the Loon Preservation Committee has been collecting biological data on Common Loon since 1976. The Common Loon population in New Hampshire is distributed throughout the state across a wide range of lake-specific habitats, water quality conditions, and levels of …

Estuarine Blue Infrastructure: Final Priority Conservation Areas For Chesapeake Bay And Its Tidal Tributaries And Back Bay – Version 2.0 (Revised 09/2010), Center For Coastal Resources Management, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science

Reports

This project is an extension of earlier efforts within the coastal zone of Virginia to build a platform for enhanced Blue and Green Infrastructure planning. This project is motivated by an interest in extending statewide conservation efforts into estuarine systems and recognition that land use decisions on the upland effect water quality and habitat health in the receiving waters. The project in its entirety has been accomplished in distinct parts. Part one develops a Cumulative Resource Assessment to evaluate the distribution of aquatic natural resources within waters of Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay waters, Back Bay of Virginia Beach, Virginia, and the …