Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Role Of Citizen Science In Ecosystem Management: A Case Study Of The Middle Rio Grande Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program, Hannah Miller

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Rapid advances in technology, especially smart phones, have changed citizen science around the world. Citizen science-generated data are growing exponentially, so there is increasing interest about what is happening with all this data. Some research suggests that governmental agencies are not using citizen science data to make ecosystem management decisions, although other studies contradict this finding. Regionally, the Middle Rio Grande bosque ecosystem extends for 162 miles along the Rio Grande in New Mexico. The Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program, or BEMP, was founded in 1996 following the efforts of the Bosque Initiative and the development of the Bosque Biological Management …

Ecological Homogenization Of Oil Properties In The American Residential Macrosystem, Christopher D. Ryan, Peter M. Groffman, J. Morgan Grove, Sharon J. Hall, James B. Heffernan, Sarah E. Hobbie, Dexter H. Locke, Jennifer L. Morse, Rinku Roy Chowdhury, Tara Trammell, Multiple Additional Authors

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The conversion of native ecosystems to residential ecosystems dominated by lawns has been a prevailing land-use change in the United States over the past 70 years. Similar development patterns and management of residential ecosystems cause many characteristics of residential ecosystems to be more similar to each other across broad continental gradients than that of former native ecosystems. For instance, similar lawn management by irrigation and fertilizer applications has the potential to influence soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) pools and processes. We evaluated the mean and variability of total soil C and N stocks, potential net N mineralization and nitrification, …

Landscapes Of War Permanently Altered Topography Is One Of The Casualties Of War, But Battlefields Can Also Be Of "Collateral Value", Todd R. Lookingbill, Peter D. Smallwood

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

But the rationale for creating battlefield parks has changed over the past 100 years, as have attitudes about battlefield conservation with a related emphasis on the physical landscapes themselves, leading to their management for multiple, layered assets through principles of constructive conservation. Existing battlefield parks provide perhaps the longest-standing examples of the evolution of landscapes of war toward generators of multiple ecosystem benefits. Moving from battlefield parks that, in some cases, have not seen warfare for hundreds of years, we examined landscapes of more recent conflict and considered the future collateral values that could be attained by establishing parks at …

Coral Reefs In The Gulf Of Mexico Large Marine Ecosystem: Conservation Status, Challenges, And Opportunities, Diego L. Gil-Agudelo, Carlos E. Cintra-Buenrostro, Jorge Brenner, Patricia Gonzalez-Diaz, William Kiene, Caitlin Lustic, Horacio Perez-Espana

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The importance of coral reefs (CR) within marine ecosystems has become widely recognized. Although shallow CR are not as abundant in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) as in other areas such as the Caribbean, their uniqueness, singularity, isolation, and conservation status make their conservation highly important. Corals and CR, both shallow and deep, are more widely distributed throughout the GoM than previously thought, providing new venues of research but also new challenges for their sustainable management. They are widely present in the three countries circumscribing the GoM (Cuba, Mexico, and the United States). Corals are also distributed throughout different depths, …

A Method To Detect Discontinuities In Census Data, Chris Barichievy, David G. Angeler, Tarsha Eason, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Kirsty L. Nash, Craig A. Stow, Shana Sundstrom, Craig R. Allen

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

The distribution of pattern across scales has predictive power in the analysis of complex systems. Discontinuity approaches remain a fruitful avenue of research in the quest for quantitative measures of resilience because discontinuity analysis provides an objective means of identifying scales in complex systems and facilitates delineation of hierarchical patterns in processes, structure, and resources. However, current discontinuity methods have been considered too subjective, too complicated and opaque, or have become computationally obsolete; given the ubiquity of discontinuities in ecological and other complex systems, a simple and transparent method for detection is needed. In this study, we present a method …

Ecological Homogenization Of Residential Macrosystems, Peter M. Groffman, Meghan Avolio, Jeannine Cavender-Bares, Neil D. Bettez, J. Morgan Grove, Sharon J. Hall, Sarah E. Hobbie, Kelli L. Larson, Susannah B. Lerman, Dexter H. Locke, James B. Heffernan, Jennifer L. Morse, Christopher Neill, Kristen C. Nelson, Jarlath O'Neil-Dunne, Diane E. Pataki, Colin Polsky, Rinku Roy Chowdhury, Tara Trammell

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Similarities in planning, development and culture within urban areas may lead to the convergence of ecological processes on continental scales. Transdisciplinary, multi-scale research is now needed to understand and predict the impact of human-dominated landscapes on ecosystem structure and function

Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management (Ebfm) Risk Assessment Of The Western Australian Abalone Managed Industry, F J. Webster, B Wise, Anthony M. Hart

WA Marine Stewardship Council report series

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the Western Australian (WA) Abalone Managed Fishery (AMF) and the outcomes from the 2015 ecological risk assessment of this fishery. The AMF targets three species of abalone greenlip (Haliotis laevigata), brownlip (H. conicopora) and Roe’s abalone (H. roei). Greenlip and brownlip abalone are primarily targeted on the south coast of WA, while Roe’s abalone is primarily targeted on the West Coast. Commercial fishing for abalone in WA has been undertaken since 1964.

Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management (Ebfm) Risk Assessment Of The Western Australian Silver-Lipped Pearl Oyster (Pinctada Maxima) Industry, K. L. Travaille, R. Jones, B Wise

WA Marine Stewardship Council report series

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the Western Australian silver-lipped pearling (Pinctada maxima) industry and the outcomes from the 2015 ecological risk assessment of this industry. The P. maxima pearling industry has been operating in Western Australia since the 1880s, initially harvesting pearl oysters for mother-of-pearl production.

Fishing For Ecosystem Services, Kevin L. Pope, Mark A. Pegg, Nicholas W. Cole, Stephen F. Siddons, Alexis D. Fedele, Brian S. Harmon, Ryan L. Ruskamp, Dylan R. Turner, Caleb C. Uerling

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Ecosystems are commonly exploited and manipulated to maximize certain human benefits. Such changes can degrade systems, leading to cascading negative effects that may be initially undetected, yet ultimately result in a reduction, or complete loss, of certain valuable ecosystem services. Ecosystembased management is intended to maintain ecosystem quality and minimize the risk of irreversible change to natural assemblages of species and to ecosystem processes while obtaining and maintaining long-term socioeconomic benefits. We discuss policy decisions in fishery management related to commonly manipulated environments with a focus on influences to ecosystem services. By focusing on broader scales, managing for ecosystem services, …

Developing Priority Variables (“Ecosystem Essential Ocean Variables” — Eeovs) For Observing Dynamics And Change In Southern Ocean Ecosystems, Andrew J. Constable, Daniel P. Costa, Oscar Schofield, Louise Newman, Edward R. Urban Jr., Elizabeth A. Fulton, Jessica Melbourne-Thomas, Tosca Ballerini, Philip W. Boyd, Angelika Brandt, Eileen E. Hofmann

CCPO Publications

Reliable statements about variability and change in marine ecosystems and their underlying causes are needed to report on their status and to guide management. Here we use the Framework on Ocean Observing (FOO) to begin developing ecosystem Essential Ocean Variables (eEOVs) for the Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS). An eEOV is a defined biological or ecological quantity, which is derived from field observations, and which contributes significantly to assessments of Southern Ocean ecosystems. Here, assessments are concerned with estimating status and trends in ecosystem properties, attribution of trends to causes, and predicting future trajectories. eEOVs should be feasible to collect …

An International Assessment Of Mangrove Management: Incorporation In Integrated Coastal Zone Management, Haille N. Carter, Steffen W. Schmidt, Amy Hirons

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Due to increasing recognition of the benefits provided by mangrove ecosystems, protection policies have emerged under both wetland and forestry programs. However, little consistency remains among these programs and inadequate coordination exists among sectors of government. With approximately 123 countries containing mangroves, the need for global management of these ecosystems is crucial to sustain the industries (i.e., fisheries, timber, and tourism) and coastal communities that mangroves support and protect. To determine the most effective form of mangrove management, this review examines management guidelines, particularly those associated with Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM). Five case studies were reviewed to further explore …

Closing The Knowing-Doing Gap In Invasive Plant Management: Accessibility And Interdisciplinarity Of Scientific Research, Virginia Matzek, Justin Covino, Jennifer L. Funk, Martin Saunders

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Like many conservation disciplines, invasion biology may suffer from a knowing-doing gap, where scientific research fails to inform management actions. We surveyed California resource managers to evaluate engagement with scientific research and to identify research priorities. We examined managers' access to information, judgment of the usefulness of existing research, ability to generate scientific information, and priorities for future research. We found that practitioners rely on their own experience, and largely do not read the peer-reviewed literature, which they regard as only moderately useful. Less than half of managers who do research carry out experiments conforming to the norms of hypothesis …

Changes To Land Tenure And Pastoral Lease Ownership In Western Australia's Central Rangelands: Implications For Co-Operative, Landscape-Scale Management, Eddie J. Van Etten

Research outputs 2013

The majority of arid and semiarid land in the Western Australian pastoral zone has a long history of livestock grazing within an extensive network of predominantly family-held pastoral leases. A variety of different groups have purchased pastoral leases in the last five decades and, for many, making a profit from pastoralism is no longer a priority. For the central rangelands of Western Australia, these groups have included: government agencies, who have purchased some 9% of pastoral leases by area; private conservation organisations (<1% purchased); aboriginal communities and groups (∼7%); and mining companies (∼13%). The purchases of pastoral leases by government agencies was designed to improve the conservation status of arid-zone ecosystems, and is the first step in a process of changing land tenure to a conservation reserve. This paper summarises the extent and other characteristics of these changes in land tenure and ownership of pastoral leases, and explores the implications for land management and conservation, stemming from these changes. It demonstrates that large areas of contiguous land with no or reduced domestic stocking can now be found in many parts of these rangelands, particularly in the Coolgardie, Yalgoo and Pilbara bio-regions, with some leaseholders actively managing land for the conservation of biodiversity and restoring sites degraded through past over-grazing. In some bio-regions, such land covers considerable proportions of sub-catchments, suggesting that broad-scale conservation management and restoration objectives may be realised. It is argued that to fully realise these objectives requires effective communication and co-ordination between land managers, including sharing of ideas, view-points and resources. In particular, mining companies, now major holders of pastoral leases in Western Australia, can play an important role in contributing to and even facilitating such objectives.

The Ecosystem Service Value Of Coastal Wetlands For Cyclone Protection In Australia, Petina Pert, Robert Costanza, Iris Bohnet, James Butler, Ida Kubiszewski, Paul Sutton, Kenneth Mulder, E. (Erin) Bohensky

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Slides from a presentation given at an International Conference and Workshop, June 7-10, 2010, titled Solutions for Sustaining Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services.

An Individual-Based Process Model To Simulate Landscape-Scale Forest Ecosystem Dynamics, Rupert Seidi, Werner Rammer, Robert M. Scheller, Thomas A. Spies

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Forest ecosystem dynamics emerges from nonlinear interactions between adaptive biotic agents (i.e., individual trees) and their relationship with a spatially and temporally heterogeneous abiotic environment. Understanding and predicting the dynamics resulting from these complex interactions is crucial for the sustainable stewardship of ecosystems, particularly in the context of rapidly changing environmental conditions. Here we present iLand (the individual-based forest landscape and disturbance model), a novel approach to simulating forest dynamics as an emergent property of environmental drivers, ecosystem processes and dynamic interactions across scales. Our specific objectives were (i) to describe the model, in particular its novel approach to simulate …

Institutions For Managing Ecosystem Services, Jennifer H. Allen, Jenny Duvander, Ida Kubiszewski, Elinor Ostrom

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Two decades of research into the management of what economists call common-pool resources suggests that, under the right conditions, local communities can manage shared resources sustainably and successfully. These revolutionary findings challenge the long-held belief in the "tragedy of the commons." Instead, we have found that tragedy is not inevitable when a shared resource is at stake, provided that people communicate. In many places—from Swiss pastures to Japanese forests—communities have come together for the sake of the environment and their own long-term well-being. Common-pool resources have two features: first, they are shared resources whose use by one person makes them …

Changing The Way We View Humanity And The Rest Of Nature, Robert Costanza

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including the idea of ecosystem services, how ecosystem aided to solve the mother of all problems and how ecosystem services offer real solutions to problems.

A Multi-Model Approach To Stakeholder Engagement In Complex Environmental Problems, Elizabeth A. Fulton, T. Jones, Fabio Boschetti, M. Sporcic, William De La Mare, Geoffrey J. Syme, Peta Dzidic, R. Gorton, L. R. Little, G. Dambacher, Kelly Chapman

Research outputs 2011

We describe the different types of models we used as part of an effort to inform policy-making aiming at the management of the Ningaloo coast in the Gascoyne region, Western Australia. This provides an overview of how these models interact, the different roles they cover, how they fit into a full decision making process and what we learnt about the stakeholders involved in our project via their use. When modelling is explicitly used to address socio-ecological issues, the key determinant of success is whether the models, their results and recommendations are taken up by stakeholders; such uptake in turn depends …

Slides: The Future Public Law Of Private Ecosystems, J. B. Ruhl

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

Presenter: J.B. Ruhl, Florida State University Law School

18 slides

Historical Evolution And Future Of Natural Resources Law And Policy: The Beginning Of An Argument And Some Modest Predictions, Sally K. Fairfax, Helen Ingram, Leigh Raymond

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

8 pages.

Includes bibliographical references

"Sally Fairfax, UC-Berkeley, Helen Ingram, UC-Irvine, and Leigh Raymond, Purdue University" -- Agenda

Linking Ecology And Economics For Ecosystem Management, Stephen Farber, Robert Costanza, Daniel L. Childers, Jon Erickson, Katherine Gross, Morgan Grove, Charles S. Hopkinson, James Kahn, Stephanie Pincetl, Austin Troy, Paige Warren, Matthew Wilson

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

This article outlines an approach, based on ecosystem services, for assessing the trade-offs inherent in managing humans embedded in ecological systems. Evaluating these trade-offs requires an understanding of the biophysical magnitudes of the changes in ecosystem services that result from human actions, and of the impact of these changes on human welfare.We summarize the state of the art of ecosystem services?based management and the information needs for applying it. Three case studies of Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites?coastal, urban, and agricultural? illustrate the usefulness, information needs, quantification possibilities, and methods for this approach. One example of the application of …

Ecological Science And Sustainability For The 21st Century, Margaret A. Palmer, Emily S. Bernhardt, Elizabeth A. Chornesky, Scott L. Collins, Andrew P. Dobson, Clifford S. Duke, Barry D. Gold, Robert B. Jacobson, Sharon E. Kingsland, Rhonda H. Kranz, Michael J. Mappin, M. Luisa Martinez, Florenza Micheli, Jennifer L. Morse, Michael L. Pace, Mercedes Pascual, Stephen S. Palumbi, Oj Reichman, Alan R. Townsend, Monica G. Turner

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Ecological science has contributed greatly to our understanding of the natural world and the impact of humans on that world. Now, we need to refocus the discipline towards research that ensures a future in which natural systems and the humans they include coexist on a more sustainable planet. Acknowledging that managed ecosystems and intensive exploitation of resources define our future, ecologists must play a greatly expanded role in communicating their research and influencing policy and decisions that affect the environment. To accomplish this, they will have to forge partnerships at scales and in forms they have not traditionally used. These …

Slides: Nepa And Adaptive Management, Denise A. Dragoo

Best Management Practices and Adaptive Management in Oil and Gas Development (May 12-13)

Presenter: Denise A. Dragoo, Partner, Snell & Wilmer L.L.P., Salt Lake City, UT

22 slides

Fifteen Years Of Plant Community Dynamics During A Northwest Ohio Oak Savanna Restoration, Scott R. Abella, John F. Jaeger, Lawrence G. Brewer

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications

Midwest oak savanna communities are noted for their unusual plant assemblages, but these communities have been reduced by more than 98% because of changing land uses and conversion to closed-canopy forests. We initiated an ongoing 15-year experiment in 1988 to restore a 40-ha black oak (Quercus velutina) savanna by applying burn treatments that historically maintained this vegetation type. Groundlayer composition changed significantly for both the burn treatment and the control, with the burn treatment exhibiting slight increases in herbs such as wild lupine (Lupinus perennis) and hairy puccoon (Lithospermum caroliniense), both of which are species requiring greater insolation. Burn treatments …

The Ahupua’A And Water Allocation: A Study Of Cultural Values And Water Law [Abstract], Kate A. Berry

Allocating and Managing Water for a Sustainable Future: Lessons from Around the World (Summer Conference, June 11-14)

2 pages.

Fisheries Envrionmental Management Plan For The Gascoyne Region. Draft Report., Dept. Of Fisheries

Fisheries management papers

This draft document for the Gascoyne Region is the first in the series of Environmental Management Plans. . It complements the recently released Fisheries Environmental Management Review of the Gascoyne Region (2000).

Ecosystems And Immune Systems: Hierarchical Response Provides Resilience Against Invasions, Craig R. Allen

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Janssen (2001) provides the stimulus for thoughtful comparison and consideration of the ranges of responses exhibited by immune systems and ecological systems in the face of perturbations such as biological invasions. It may indeed be informative to consider the similarities of the responses to invasions exhibited by immune systems and ecological systems. Clearly, both types of systems share a general organizational structure with all other complex hierarchical systems. Their organization provides these systems with resilience. However, when describing the response of ecological-economic systems to invasions, Janssen emphasizes the human-economic response. I would like to expand on his comparison by focusing …

Biodiversity: Connecting With The Tapestry Of Life, Elise F. Granek, Francisco Dallmeier, Alfonso Alonso, Peter H. Raven

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Biodiversity is the extraordinary variety of life on Earth – from genes and species to ecosystems and the valuable functions they perform. E.O. Wilson, the noted biologist and author who coined the term “biodiversity,” explains it as “the very stuff of life.” Species and the ecosystems in which they live are indelibly linked. Conversion or loss of ecosystems inevitably impairs the species that depend on them. As well, changes in the life cycle of one species could impact the life cycles of many other species (including humans), alter ecosystems and ecosystem functions, and contribute to local, regional and, ultimately, global …

Regionalized Water Management: An Evolving Hydrocommons?, Gary D. Weatherford

Water and Growth in the West (Summer Conference, June 7-9)

26 pages.

Contains footnotes and 8 pages of references.

Adopting An Ecosystem Approach: Local Variability In Remedial Action Planning, Wendy A. Kellogg

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

Provides information on a study that describes the adoption of an ecosystem approach by lead agencies in two remedial action plans (RAP) for Great Lakes basin. Guidelines on what an ecosystem approach is; Account on International Joint Commission (IJC); Congruency between RAP processes with IJC articulation; How variability in local conditions shaped the innovation adoption process.