bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Visitor Management in Recreation Areas
Authors: Jim Chi Yung
Published: August 2009

The ever-increasing demands for outdoor recreation have caused widespread ecological damages in many parts of the world, so that methods to contain deleterious impacts and maintain the quality of recreational experience must be earnestly sought. Besides the commonlyprescribed preventive and ameliorative actions on the resource-base, visitor management which can provide cost-effective and long-term solutions deserves more attention than hitherto. This paper evaluates a spectrum of relevant options including the subtle (influencing userbehaviour), through the intermediate (redistributing use), to the regulatory (rationing use).

The reduction ofper caputimpact can, naturally, raise the capacity of an area to accommodate continuing use. Minimum impact techniques can substantially curtail the largely inadvertent damage due to ignorance rather than malice, while recreational planning and management can take into account the changing user preference. Appropriate data to guide management decisions can be acquired through innovative non-contact approaches, including visitor observation, to solicit candid and spontaneous responses. Good-quality information, conveyed through different channels in ample time before a visit, can effectively modify user behaviour and perception. Formal and informal education, to inculcate a responsible attitude towards the natural environment, can bring long-range benefits. Citizen participation can furnish diversified and useroriented perspectives that are important for successful programmes.
Cape St Vincent and the Sagres Peninsula, Portugal: Important Biological Sites Under Threat
Authors: Woodell Stanley R. J.
Published: August 2009

An account is given of the unique area comprising Cape St Vincent and the Sagres Peninsula, in southwestern Portugal. It has a variety of plant communities, some of which occur only in this area, and is the home of several endemic plant species. The two promontories are important breeding sites for several bird species, and are a landfall for thousands of migrating birds. Other animal groups of the area are less well-known. The area is subject to increasing visitor pressure, and tourist development is on the increase. The case is pressed for its conservation as a vital ecological resource, and as an asset to Portugal.
Man and Forests: A Case-study from the Dry Tropics of India
Authors: Singh V.P. , Singh J.S.
Published: August 2009

The present study analyses the energy-budget of ‘village ecosystems’ in a dry tropical environment. These systems depend to a great extent on the surrounding natural forest/savanna ecosystems. Accordingly the objectives of the study were to quantify (i) the energy efficiency of rain-fed agriculture at the ecosystem level, and (ii) the indirect impact of agricultural activity on the surrounding forest/savanna ecosystems.

Agronomic output from farming is not sufficient to meet the food-energy requirements of the villagers, hence 27.0 to 51.0% of the requirement is met from outside markets. Operation of the agro-ecosystems involved requires a considerable amount of subsidy from the surrounding forest/savanna ecosystems in terms of fodder and fuel-wood. About 81 to 100% of the fuel needs, and 80–87% of the fodder needs, are met from the natural forest/savanna ecosystems. Thus, for each unit of energy obtained in agronomic yield (including milk), 3.1 units of energy are expended from the surrounding natural ecosystems in the form of fodder and fuel-wood.

The erratic and ill-distributed nature of monsoon rains results in moisture deficit which affects the crop production in dry-land farming, causing partial or total failure of the crops. For achieving increased and stable agronomic production under rain-fed conditions, improved dry-land farming techniques have to be applied. Some of these techniques are: (1) introduction of crops and varieties that would be capable of maturing in a period of 90–100 days, and adequate use of appropriate fertilizers; (2) planned rain-water management including storage of surface runoff; and (3) practices of intercropping with crops of longer duration than those currently grown, having slow growth-rates in the early part of their life-cycles.
Atmospheric Pollution in Beijing, China, as Recorded in Sediments of the Summer Palace Lake
Authors: Zhou Mao Mei , Yi Liu Jing , Bertine Kathe K. , Koide Minoru , Goldberg Edward D.
Published: August 2009

The fluxes of heavy-metals, and the fly-ash component magnetite from coal-burning, to sediments of the Lake of the Summer Palace in Beijing, China, have increased measurably over the last fifty years. The excess metal contents and the magnetite are attributed to the combustion of coal.

Even with a doubling of coal usage by the year AD 2000. the anthropogenic metal fluxes in Beijing, China, will still be less than those recorded for recent times in metropolitan Tokyo and US lakes. In principle, these fluxes can be reduced by the installation of appropriate emission controls at the coal-burning facilities.
The Protected Area of Hanford as a Refugium for Native Plants and Animals
Authors: Gray Robert H. , Rickard William H.
Published: August 2009

The US Department of Energy's Hanford Site, by virtue of its large size of 1,450 km2 (560 mi2) and conservative use of undeveloped land, provides a sanctuary for plant and animal populations that have been eliminated from, or greatly reduced on, surrounding areas primarily as a result of decades of intensive agriculture. This paper describes Hanford Site biota with emphasis on fishes and other animal wildlife that are currently surveyed as part of a continuing environmental monitoring programme.
Base-collections of Crop Genetic Resources: Their Future Importance in a Man-dominated World
Authors: Tao Kar-Ling , Williams J. Trevor , van Sloten Dick H.
Published: August 2009

Plant genetic resources are vital in safeguarding and increasing crop production and enhancing human nutrition, particularly in a Man-dominated world. Crop genetic resources are currently under threat of loss for various reasons. Conservation as seed is the most common and practicable method of preserving plant genetic resources. The International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR), in cooperation with gene-banks around the world, has created a global network of base-collections. In order to minimize losses of stock in the gene-banks, standards were developed in 1985 and base-collections were assessed against them.
Management of the Lake Kariba Inshore Fishery and Some Thoughts on Biodiversity and Conservation Issues, Zimbabwe
Authors: Sanyanga Rudo A.
Published: August 2009

This paper deals with conservation issues and threats faced by the inshore fishery of Lake Kariba, where human actions such as poaching and introduction of alien species are threatening the indigenous species. Lake Kariba is a Man-made Lake that was created in 1956–58 and has undergone a number of changes from a eutrophic stage in its early years to the present oligotrophic state. Tied up with this were changes in hydrology, the initial filling phase being marked with high fish-yields, then the booming of the pestiferous Salvinia molesta, until 1971 marked the end of evolutionary changes and the beginning of the decline in nutrient status of the Lake.

One of the two fisheries of Lake Kariba is described: the inshore fishery, which is the richer and more interesting in terms of diversity and conservation. This fishery is exploited by artisanal fishermen who use ‘primitive’ means. The fish species involved are vulnerable, as they take a long time to grow and have generally a low fecundity as compared with the ‘sardines’. The famous sport-fish Hydrocynus vittatus (Tigerfish) is, in particular, threatened by human activities.

Fishery regulations and management laws are implemented by LKFRI — a Zimbabwe Government institute under the Department of National Parks & Wildlife Management. Whereas the regulations appear sound and reasonable, economic hardships and human population growth in the hinterland have caused changes in the attitudes of people. Fishing is an easy source of revenue, but policing it has become costly and difficult.
Artisanal Fishing and Environmental Change in a Nigerian Floodplain Wetland
Authors: Thomas David H.L.
Published: August 2009

Floodplain wetlands are of major importance in semi-arid Africa, providing agricultural, livestock, forestry, and fisheries, products as well as many other goods and services. Through a case-study of a floodplain wetland in northern Nigeria, it is demonstrated that the factors determining the characteristics of floodplain fishermen, defined in terms of how they fish, where they fish, and when they fish, are spatially and temporally very complex and may best be analysed within a simple systems framework.

Despite the important values and functions that floodplains provide, many have been degraded owing to the construction of dams within their catchments. Studies of the social and economic impact of these developments tend to have adopted an ‘ecosystem’ approach to analysis that conceals the socio-economic complexity of the floodplain. However, if proposals to manage the water resources of river basins effectively are to be successfully implemented, it will be essential to understand the complexity of socioeconomic relations of floodplain users and their interaction with the environment. In conclusion, there is a need for much more detailed socio-economic studies that explore the ways in which floodplain inhabitants use the system in space and time.
Traditional Practices of Inland Fishery Resources Management in the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka: Implications for Sustainability
Authors: Ulluwishewa Rohana
Published: August 2009

Fishery in the village irrigation-tanks has long played an important role as a source of food in the traditional villages in the Dry Zone comprising two-thirds of the area of Sri Lanka. Therefore, the villagers have traditionally developed various management practices which lead to sustainable utilization of fishery resources. This study is an attempt to explore such practices pertaining to fishery in the irrigation systems in the traditional villages and to investigate their relevance to designing appropriate resource-management systems leading to ecologically sustainable development. The study indicates that the traditional practices which contribute to the sustainable utilization of fishery resources are fourfold: (1) ecological, (2) technological, (3) institutional, and (4) cultural.

The ecological set-up of the irrigation system of any given traditional village has evolved in such a way that it could facilitate the survival of fishes during the dry season, which is the major threat to their continuous survival. Though all small tanks dry out during the dry season, small amounts of water remain in some big tanks. As all tanks in any given catchment area are interconnected, the fishes remaining in the big tanks can migrate to the small tanks at the beginning of the rainy season and so re-colonize them. While the buffalo wallow which is located at the lower end of the paddy tract acts as a drought refugium, the natural vegetation-cover associated with the irrigation system provides food, a favourable microclimate, and materials required for the construction of nests by those fishes that make them.
Issues in Biodiversity Conservation Including the Role of Local Communities
Authors: Tisdell Clement A.
Published: August 2009

Although many publications have appeared in recent years purporting to address the economics of conservation of biodiversity, most do not address the diversity issues as such. This shortcoming appears only to have been recognized recently. Furthermore, from the literature it is clear that natural living areas — apart from conserving biodiversity — jointly give rise to other conservation benefits, and therefore, their conservation needs to be evaluated holistically.

It is suggested that when constraints are placed on available resources for biodiversity conservation, some criteria for species preservation such as those associated with SMS (safe minimum standard) may exhibit unsatisfactory features. While imperfection of knowledge is a serious limitation on rational decision-making about conservation of biodiversity, we have some knowledge and we may be able to use that to determine rational probabilities. In addition, it is important to scrutinize ecological claims about biodiversity. For example, ecosystems containing greater biodiversity may not be more sustainable than those with less diversity. It is also argued that the SMS criterion needs further development because there may be no standard which ensures the survival of any species.
Population, Environment, and Conflict
Authors: Myers Norman
Published: August 2009

Developing nations have yet to enter the projected main phase of their population explosion. Between 1950 and 1985 they increased their numbers by 1,980 million people, whereas between 1985 and 2020 the increase is projected to be 2,783 millions. If we exclude China from the reckoning, on the grounds of that country being well on the way to a zero-growth population, the figures are 1,486 millions and 2,415 millions.
Australian Rain-forest Subdivisions and Conservation Strategies
Authors: Parker Paul K.
Published: August 2009

The subdivision of Australian tropical rain-forest into one- and two-hectares' residential blocks changes the local ecology in a dramatic manner. It opens the canopy, changes the humidity regime, decimates ancient climax vegetation, and introduces weed species. As a result, the practice is incompatible with the objectives alike of the World Conservation Strategy and the National Conservation Strategy for Australia. Government intervention will be required if the Strategy is to be implemented. The first step towards implementation is the evaluation of current and proposed practices. A brief analysis of the incidence of costs and benefits demonstrates the skewed distribution which results from rain-forest subdivision. A few sellers and promoters receive millions of dollars in capital gains, while millions of other people lose the public and recreational benefits offered by the existing rain-forest, and the world as a whole loses much of scientific value. The information gained by this brief analysis provides the Government with a better basis on which to act than heretofore.
Trampling Impacts of Recreationists on Picnic Sites in a Hong Kong Country Park
Authors: Jim Chi Yung
Published: August 2009

The Country Parks programme in Hong Kong has been overwhelmingly successful in generating outdoor recreational demands. Most visitors concentrate in designated barbeque-picnic sites of which many have been badly damaged by intensive recreational use. The conditions in 60 sites in a popular Country Park were evaluated by allocating ordinal ratings to 20 soil-erosion and site-attractiveness indicators. Index sites representing three levels of impacts were studied in detail for specific changes in vegetation and soil that had been induced by trampling. The magnitude of site degradation was indicated by the relative proportions of vegetation, organic litter, and bare ground, covers. The conversion from vegetation to litter was faster than that of litter to bare soil initially, but the converse is true at advanced stages of degradation. Seven out of fourteen site-attractiveness attributes, including accessibility, facility provision, shape, stocking rate and distribution pattern of facilities, on-site naturalness, and scenic diversity, were associated with erosion–in most cases positively.
Industrial Development Effects on the Ecology of a Pacific Mexican Estuary
Authors: Ibarra-Obando Silvia E. , Escofet Anamaría
Published: August 2009

In November 1983, the construction of the first part of an assembling plant of jackets to support oil-drilling platforms began at Punta Banda estuary, a 16.40 km2 coastal estuary located 150 km south of the USA-México border. The area that is being built on (0.45 km2) is located at the south-west corner of the estuary and is delimited by a dike. The second part of the construction, covering a further 0.40 km2, will extend to the south-east and will require some deflection of the main circulation channel.
IUCN, National Parks, and Protected Areas: Priorities for Action
Authors: McNeely Jeffrey A. , Miller Kenton R.
Published: August 2009

In order to ensure that the full range of species and natural ecosystems continue to form part of the human habitat, national parks and other types of protected areas must be better designed and managed than is usually the case at present. While IUCN has a long history of involvement in protected areas, often in cooperation with UNESCO, the World Wildlife Fund, and UNEP, the World National Parks Congress (held in Bali, Indonesia, during 11–22 October 1982) marked a major turning-point in promoting protected areas as part of the social and economic development process. In this approach, the Congress provided ways and means for the philosophy of the World Conservation Strategy (1980) to be put into action on the ground.
Wilderness Protection: An Example from the Southern Sierra Nevada, USA
Authors: Parsons David J.
Published: August 2009

The increasing popularity of national parks and other wilderness areas has focused attention on the need for effective wilderness management policies. In many cases active management programmes are required to assure that naturally functioning ecosystems are preserved. External influences such as air pollution, exotic species, and impacts from visitor-use, must be understood and controlled. This paper reviews a case-example of management strategies that were utilized to minimize visitor use-impacts in the backcountry wilderness of Kings Canyon National Park in the southern Sierra Nevada of California.
An Economist's Critique of the World Conservation Strategy, with Examples from the Australian Experience
Authors: Tisdell Clement A.
Published: August 2009

The World Conservation Strategy aims to foster ‘sustainable development through the conservation of living resources’. While this is an admirable goal, the definition of conservation given in the Strategy document seems too imprecise to be operational.

The framers of the Strategy hope to convince developers and others that conservation is needed if development is to be sustained, contending that in the absence of conservation, development may be short-lived and uncertain. Possibly in order to give it greater political appeal, the Strategy takes a Man-centred approach to conservation. Nevertheless little attention is given to the ultimate ends of Mankind, that is, the type of issues raised by Daly (1980).

However, even if more immediate goals of mankind are considered, there is a strong case for conservation. In order to achieve living-resource conservation, the World Conservation Strategy suggests that it is necessary: (1) to maintain essential ecological processes and life-support systems; (2) to preserve genetic diversity; and (3) to ensure the sustainable utilization of species and ecosystems. Detailed recommendations are made for achieving each of these three conditions.
Landscape Conservation in Belgium: Legal and Institutional Reforms and Future Prospects
Authors: Tips Walter E.J.
Published: August 2009

This paper reviews the legislation, the government institutions, and some recent developments, in landscape conservation and planning in Belgium. The overall effects of the recent constitutional and institutional reforms on the achievement of sound landscape planning and management strategies in the broader context of environmental conservation will be beneficial. This is because the decade-long disputes between Flanders and Wallonia over different orientations to landscape planning policies can now be resolved independently, suiting each region's specific environmental and socio-economic conditions. There is also scope to improve on, and to integrate, various government agencies and departmental environmental policies through the reconciliation of the exigencies of independently evolved and sometimes inherently conflicting laws and regulations. Thus, a great number of laws and regulations on scenic and heritage landscapes, the protection of woods and forests, the conservation of historic buildings and landscapes, the management of rivers and polders, town and physical planning, Nature conservation, and the re-allotment of land, contributed to the need to coordinate policies and to reconcile bodies of the public taking an interest in the promotion of the goals of these laws and regulations.
Bird Control at Airports
Authors: Burger Joanna
Published: August 2009

Birds are a serious threat to aircraft, particularly near airports. For civil aircraft about 75% of all bird-strikes occur near airports. Gulls and small flocking-birds provide the greatest threat to aircraft near airports. Birds are attracted to airports because they become habituated to the noise and traffic, and are attracted by the presence of areas for roosting, loafing, and feeding. Serious bird-strikes can be reduced around airports by reducing the number of birds, by making the birds get out of the way of airplanes, by having planes avoid birds, by adding physical protection to the airplanes, and by switching to new types of aircraft which are safer with respect to bird-strikes. The first two solutions involve bird control, while the last three involve modification of aircraft or aircraft routes. Airport personnel are usually involved only in controlling bird numbers or in dispersing them from the airport.
The Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources
Authors: Brown William Y.
Published: August 2009

Recognizing the recency of establishment of the conservation principles in Article II of the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, and that no current analysis can be definitive or should pretend to be, the following preliminary conclusions stem from this paper:

1. The three principles of Article II of the Convention should be read as complementary guides in pursuing the overall goal of preserving the natural marine ecosystems of the Antarctic while also allowing some degree of harvest.

2. Sound implementation of the principles requires subdivision of the Convention area. The six baleen whale Areas designated by the International Whaling Commission are one possibility, but poorly justified ecologically. Priority should be given to identifying geographic divisions that rest upon a more sound and more finely-constructed ecological foundation.

3. Management indicator species and depleted species should be identified as soon as possible, and sampled periodically for appropriate life-history statistics in each agreed-upon subdivision of the Antarctic marine complex of ecosystems. The statistics appropriate for such monitoring are likely to vary with different species, and should generally be those parameters that are least sensitive to environmental fluctuations in general and most sensitive to changes in resource availability.

4. A substantial portion of each ecologically differentiated area should be completely protected from harvest and associated activities.

5. Harvest effort in portions of such areas open to exploitation should be regulated differentially, in order to facilitate assessment of the effects of harvest pursuant to an agreed-upon experimental design.

6. Harvest of krill and other species should be so regulated in any open area that the harvest is consistent with the maintenance or restoration of the harvested species, indicator species, and depleted species to levels of greatest net annual increment or above, defined with respect to initial population size.

7. Article II's principle of reversibility should address adaptive change resulting from artificial selection as well as ecological change. A methodology for correlating harvest practices with rates of reversal of the effects of harvest should be developed for harvested species, indicator species, and depleted species. No alien species should be introduced into Antarctica unless its existence there can be easily terminated.

8. As soon as possible, a limit should be placed on the allowable annual rate of increase of krill harvest by Man.

9. Basic research on Antarctic marine ecosystems should be enhanced, even though the research may have no obvious application to stable recruitment or to reversibility of change.
Hydroelectric Development and Wilderness Conflict in South-West Tasmania
Authors: Dragun Andrew K.
Published: August 2009

The hydroelectric developments portended in South-West Tasmania would inundate tracts having major wilderness and archaeological values as well as threaten a much larger area of wilderness. The development of the region is ‘justified’ by the construction authority, in terms of an expected high rate of electricity demand towards the year 2000. However, a range of independent demand analyses suggest that the demand for electricity in Tasmania will not approach the Hydro-Electric Commission's expectations. Thus a lag in demand may be identified which should provide time for a rigorous evaluation of the wilderness value of the region together with an appraisal of the alternative electricity-generation options.

Currently, it appears that a cost advantage exists for the favoured ‘Gordon-below-Franklin’ project. However, the opportunity-cost differential of this project relative to several less-damaging alternatives is slight, at least when the growth in wilderness and electricity demands are considered. The opportunity-cost tradeoff appears quite trivial when current tourist and recreational impacts are accounted for.
Recent Trends of Desertification in the Maowusu Desert, China
Authors: Luk Shiu-Hung
Published: August 2009

In the Maowusu Desert—which in the south-east encompasses part of the Yulin Region, Shaanxi Province, and in the north-west the Ih Ju League, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region—desertification trends in relation to the impact of droughts and land-use changes were investigated. Data derived from Earth resources technology satellites (LANDSAT I and LANDSAT II, 1974–1978), and Chinese documentary sources, were used for the analysis. It was found that desert ‘expansion’ occurred during 1953–76, but the rates of expansion varied over time and space, relatively rapid desertification being observed for 1959–63 and 1971–76. The bulk of the expansion was located in the more arid Ih Ju League. The mean annual rate of areal expansion was 6.4% during 1958–71. By comparing the desertification rates with precipitation and land-use information, it was established that droughts have only accentuated the desertification process. The primary cause of desert expansion is the excessive clearing of land for rain-fed agriculture as well, of course, as overgrazing. Another contributory factor was culling of vegetation for fuel and raw materials for handicraft industries.

Efforts have been expended on desert control since the mid-1950s, resulting in the arresting of desertification in some local areas. The individual success stories demonstrate that, with mass participation, effective desert control can be achieved by using low-level technology. However, the Chinese programme of desert control was not conceived as a comprehensive programme. Control activities relied almost exclusively on vegetational methods, and they were seldom coordinated with land-use policies as well as with the planning of energy supplies. The negligence of the fundamental conflict between expanding agricultural activities and desert control has led to a net desert expansion in the last 30 years. Recognition of this fundamental conflict and implementation of mitigative land-use policies, would be a major step towards resolving the desertification problem in the Maowusu Desert.
A Restored Seagrass (Thalassia) Bed and Its Animal Community
Authors: McLaughlin Patsy A. , Treat Sara-Ann F. , Thorhaug Anitra , Lemaitre Rafael
Published: August 2009

Quarterly sampling of animals in a restored seagrass (Thalassia) area in south Biscayne Bay, Florida, was undertaken to determine whether the recolonizing animal community would be similar in structure to a Thalassia community that had never been impacted by thermal effluents or restored. Samplings by 1 m bottom trawl (⅛ inch = 3.2 mm stretch-mesh), 3 replicates at each of 9 stations, and a 15-cm2 grab (5 replicates at 9 stations) were sorted as to species for most groups and quantified. Strong seasonal differences were found. The results were compared with data from previous work in the area which had been done during thermal emissions from a power-plant.

Significant differences were found between the abundance and species of animals in restored areas and a nearby barren area that had never recovered from impact, though differences in species and abundances between the restored Thalassia sites and an unaffected control site were not statistically different. Populations of certain groups such as the commercial Pink Shrimp (Penaeus duorarum), caridean shrimps, and juvenile fishes, were numerically far higher in the restored area than in control or naturally reestablishing successional seagrasses, and at least an order of magnitude higher than in barren areas that had never recovered from impact.
The Domestication of Evolution
Authors: Coppinger Raymond P. , Smith Charles Kay
Published: August 2009

A coming ‘Age of Interdependent Forms’ seems destined to mark the success of what could be called ‘despecialized/interspecific fitness’ among neotenic strains (perpetuating juvenile traits) of species such as humans and domestic animals. Humans as well as the first domesticants underwent a neotenic evolution in the wild during the repeated interglacial periods which, acting on a number of mammalian forms, selected against adult species-specific ancestral adaptations to a stable environment. Neotenic species continue to look and behave more like ancestral youths than adults—even after sexual maturity and throughout their life-history. As they retain lifelong youthful dependency motivations, they can easily, under suitable conditions, become interdependent forms. By the time of melting of the last Pleistocene glacier, all the domestic partners had already become more dependency-prone than formerly, and were behaviourally despecialized enough to form the alliance that is now changing the order of Nature.
Changes in the Distribution of Aquatic Plants in a Tropical Swamp
Authors: Osborne Patrick L. , Leach Gregory J.
Published: August 2009

Tropical wetlands are of great ecological importance and are worthy of widespread and vigorous conservation efforts. They are, however, very susceptible to environmental changes which often result from human activities. Waigani swamp near Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, comprises a number of small, shallow lakes, the largest of which, Waigani Lake, has a surface area of 120 ha. This Lake now has nutrient-rich water with very high phytoplankton populations owing to sewage effluent disposal.

Changes in the macrophyte flora and vegetation of Waigani Lake are documented in aerial photographs taken between 1942 and 1981. From 1942 to 1956 the Lake was dominated by emergent vegetation, and there was very little open water. Between 1956 and 1966 this emergent vegetation was replaced by dense stands of nymphaeids. In 1965, sewage disposal into Waigani Lake began and by 1974 only a few small stands of nymphaeids remained. By 1978 no nymphaeids could be found in Waigani Lake. The decline in the nymphaeid cover of Waigani Lake was accompanied by a regression of the surrounding reed-swamp. Two other lakes near Port Moresby are nutrient-poor and have a dominant and diverse macrophyte flora, being probably more comparable with Waigani Lake prior to its enrichment—apart from a recent takeover by a pestiferous free-floating water-fern.
In Absentia Benefits of Nature Preserves: A Review
Authors: Pearsall Samuel Haff
Published: August 2009

Nature preserves are lands which are protected in order to provide hoped-for perpetuation of natural features within the context of a relatively unmodified natural environment. Nature preserves are typically justified on the basis of benefits to communities of plants or animals (biocentric benefits) or to Mankind (anthropocentric benefits). Anthropocentric benefits are usually described in terms of on-site uses of nature preserves for recreation, quiet enjoyment, scientific research, education, and/or resource-banking. These benefits are not, however, by any means the only effects which accrue to humans because of nature preserves; indeed some of them include the potential to damage the natural integrity of the preserves.

The majority of benefits which accrue to humans from nature preserves are in absentia benefits, or benefits which do not require the presence of the beneficiaries on the site. In absentia benefits include residual benefits, or benefits which persist or develop after visiting a preserve, vicarious benefits, or benefits which exist for one or more people (or society) because of someone else's visit to a preserve, and non-use benefits, or benefits which exist for people without anyone necessarily having visited the preserve. In addition there are ecosystem services, maintaining vital gene-pools and natural nutrient and hydrological cycles, as the most important category of non-use benefits. Of these four categories of in absentia benefits, non-use benefits are, by far, the largest. Non-use benefits provide the majority of anthropocentric values accruing from nature preserves.
Towards Monitoring of Long-term Trends in Terrestrial Ecosystems
Authors: Hinds W. Ted
Published: August 2009

Ecological monitoring is the purposeful observation, over time, of ecological processes in relation to stress. It differs from biological monitoring in that ecological monitoring does not consider the biota to be a surrogate filter to be analysed for contaminants, but rather has changes in the biotic processes as its focal point for observation of response to stress. Ecological monitoring methods aimed at detecting subtle or slow changes in ecological structure or function usually cannot be based on simple repetition of an arbitrarily chosen field measurement. An optimum method should be deliberately designed to be ecologically appropriate, statistically credible, and cost-efficient.

Ecologically appropriate methods should consider the ecological processes that are most likely to respond to the stress of concern, so that relatively simple and well-defined measurements can be used. Statistical credibility requires that both Type I and Type II errors be addressed; Type I error (a false declaration of impact when none exists) and Type II error (a false declaration that no change has taken place or that an observed change is random) are about equally important in a monitoring context. Therefore, these error rates should probably be equal. Furthermore, the error rates should reflect the large inherent variability in undomesticated situations; the optimum may be 10%, rather than the traditional 5% or 1% for controlled experiments and observations.
An Experimental Approach to the Reclamation of a Limestone Quarry Floor: The First Three Years
Authors: Dixon Jean M. , Hambler David J.
Published: August 2009

‘Three-inch [7.5 cm] crusher-run’ limestone proved entirely suitable as a substratum for the rapid establishment of pioneer vegetation on a quarry floor, but only with the addition of fertilizers. A manure derived from sewage and an NPK fertilizer mixture proved suitable additives. A grass variety (Festuca rubra var. fallax Hack.) was sown, and became established on the substratum treated with either additive. Immigrant mosses soon became dominant in a grass/moss community on the manured substratum, whilst F. rubra retained its ascendancy on the NPK-treated material. The moss-dominated community was not attractive to Rabbits, whereas the grass-dominated community proved attractive to these animals which are accepted as beneficial for conservation in this particular context.

Further observations are required to assess (a) whether the by-passing of a cryptogamic stage in the prisere encouraged by the NPK mixture is a worthwhile objective, (b) whether the observed dominance of mosses encouraged by manure will be broken by F. rubra, and (c) whether the establishment of desirable immigrant species occurs differentially between the treatments. Meanwhile a perceptible degree of rehabilitation within three years may be claimed as a result of treatments producing a total plant cover of between 40% and 70%.
Nature Reserves, National Parks, and Post-war Reconstruction, in Britain
Authors: Sheail John
Published: August 2009

An historical reconstruction of how key decisions were taken on Nature-conservation issues provides a context for appraising contemporary initiatives, both on a national and an international basis. This paper has been focused on one of the most important landmarks in the development of Nature conservation in Britain, namely the establishment of the Nature Conservancy in 1949. It recounts how the advocacy of pressure-groups, and the appointment of ad hoc inquiries, ensured that Nature conservation had a place in the Government's post-war reconstruction programme, and how it came to be regarded primarily as a scientific rather than a planning issue.

There was nothing inevitable about the steps that were taken in the 1940s. They owed much to the way in which key personalities perceived shifts in public opinion towards the role of central government, and exploited the opportunities thrown up by the national parks movement. Despite the projection of the Nature Conservancy as a body that was modest in status and resources, its potential proved to be enormous. It had the responsibility not only for acquiring and managing Nature reserves, and for disseminating advice on wildlife conservation generally, but also for carrying out the research which was and always will be relevant to those functions. It is, however, doubtful whether the personnel who were responsible for the main initiatives in the 1940s fully appreciated the implications of what they were striving to achieve.
Complementarity Between Environment and Development Processes
Authors: Biswas Margaret R. , Biswas Asit K.
Published: August 2009

Environmental consequences of economic growth and development became an area of major national concern primarily in industrialized countries during the nineteen-sixties. Undesirable side-effects of development became highly visible in terms of air, water, land, and noise, pollution, and people in such countries became concerned with the continuing environmental degradation and impacts on their health and life-style. The emphasis, however, was primarily on the physical environment.

Two problems received much attention: the constantly increasing resource-use in the developed countries, and population explosion in the less-developed countries. Many doomsday scenarios were put forward, and there was a clamour for ‘no-growth’ in the West. This created much apprehension in the less-developed countries, because development was urgently needed to improve the living-standards of their citizens. Thus, ‘pollution of poverty’ became an important issue at the UN Conference on the Human Environment, which was held at Stockholm in 1972.
Man-induced Environmental Factors in Relation to Fertility Changes in Pinnipeds
Authors: Reijnders Peter J.H.
Published: August 2009

The possible effects of human activities (such as the release of pollutants, exploitation, and disturbance) on the reproductive performance of pinniped populations (especially of certain seals) are discussed. While there are documented cases of reproductive rates increasing in exploited seal populations, the effects of disturbance on reproduction have only been suggested on the basis of rather incidental observations.

In a number of cases the decline of a pinniped population has coincided with an elevation in the level of various contaminants. In some animals, reproductive failure has been associated with high levels of contaminants in their tissues; but even in these cases, no cause-and effect relation between pollutants and altered physiological processes has been established. Clearly, far more research will be needed to elucidate these problems.
Ecological Boundaries for Coral-reef Reserves: Principles and Guidelines
Authors: Salm Rodney V.
Published: August 2009

As marine conservation activities intensify, planners and managers of protected areas are finding themselves with few guidelines or tools that are specific to the marine realm. Consequently the principles, criteria, and practices, of terrestrial protected areas tend to be transferred to the seas, where they are often inappropriate. In contrast to the situations with at all comparable sites on land, there is a sad shortage of published material on the application of ecological principles to the design and management of marine protected areas.

Using the example of coral reefs, guidelines are presented here in the hope that they will elicit comment and stimulate the publication of similar guidelines for different marine environments.

Coral-reef protected-area boundaries must fulfil two requirements: they must include appropriate coral-reef, confluent and neighbouring habitats, and a sufficient area of each. The first requirement defines the type, and the second the quantity, of habitats to be included in a protected area. Studies in the Chagos Archipelago, Indian Ocean, indicate that, there, the core zone of a protected coral-reef area should encompass 300 ha of diverse reef habitats if preservation of biotic diversity is the principal objective. The buffer-zone size needed will vary according to activities planned within the area, the extent of neighbouring coastal habitats, and the proximity of up-current or otherwise ‘linked’ sources of potential contamination.
India's Silent Valley and Its Threatened Rain-forest Ecosystems
Authors: Singh J.S. , Singh S.P. , Saxena A.K. , Rawat Y.S.
Published: August 2009

Most of the features that are commonly attributed to typical tropical rain-forests, such as a preponderance of woody vegetation and species with leaves in the mesophyll size-class, tall slender trees with ‘flying buttress’ and unusually thin bark, multilayering of vegetation with abundance of epiphytes and stranglers, evergreenness, strong tendency to change in species composition in time and space, and high diversity of dominance, are plentifully displayed by the forests of the Silent Valley in southwestern India. A relatively high species-richness, remarkably thin bark of trees, and high total tree-basal area, indicate that the valley embodies a virgin forest and that conditions for growth are very favourable. Because of the terrain, heterogeneity in habitats is well marked.

The proposed construction of a dam and large flooding reservoir threatens to bring about several undesirable alterations in the environment of the Silent Valley rain- and riparian forests, and the disturbances that would follow such construction and flooding would be highly detrimental to the diversity of the forests and to the complexity of their structure. Hence a plea is made for the setting aside forthwith of a proposed major ‘Silent Valley Biosphere Reserve’, which could safeguard a unique part of the world's genetical heritage and one of its most interesting complexes of natural ecosystems.
The Origin, Evolution, and Status, of the International Society for Environmental Education (ISEE)
Authors: Baldwin John H. , Sacks Arthur B.
Published: August 2009

The International Society For Environmental Education was created in October 1983 to promote education for ecologically sustainable development in all nations of the world. The organization has ratified a constitution and by-laws, and the first full election of its Board of Directors, President, and Vice-President, will be held in February and March of 1985. The ISEE has already sponsored two international workshops, the first in New Delhi, India, and the second at Chateau Lake Louise, Canada. Three additional workshops are planned in Central America, Eastern Europe, and sub-Saharan Africa. WCB-ISEE will publish a quarterly international Newsletter, the first issue of which was scheduled to be released in December 1984. The next meeting of the officers and Board of ISEE will be in March of 1985 in New Delhi, India.

Educators and environmental professionals are encouraged to join ISEE and become actively involved in developing its programme and participating in its governance. Those who wish to become involved should contact: Dr Craig B. Davis, Secretary-General of WCBISEE, School of Natural Resources, 2021 Coffey Road, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.
Application of a Model of Ecological Succession to Conservation and Land-use Management
Authors: Rosenberg Diane B. , Freedman Stephen M.
Published: August 2009

Ecological succession theory can be used in land-use planning to develop self-maintaining systems that meet conservation needs. This paper presents a management succession model and outlines methods that can be applied to regional land-use, rangeland, and agro-ecosystem, management. Traditionally, succession has been viewed as a repeatable and deterministic change in an ecosystem. Unlike the traditional view, the management succession model suggests that the successional process can be regulated to develop management designed communities. The model is based on current succession theory and consists of five steps; designed disturbance, selective colonization, inhibitory persistence, removal, and regeneration. Through the steps of the model, community interactions, life-history characteristics, and those abiotic factors that are to some extent controllable, are manipulated. The objective in manipulating these factors is to regulate successional sequences and rates of species replacement.

To implement these steps a management practice, such as burning, can be used as a designed disturbance. The timing, intensity, and extent, of burning are regulated to insure that ‘selected colonizers’ become established. The design of the disturbance, and the selection of species and proportions of colonizers, is based upon the type of community structure that is wanted. Often a stable, persisting community is the goal. How long a community persists can be controlled by planned removal, which deliberately interrupts a successional sequence. The removal process can, in itself, be considered a type of disturbance, and can be used to regulate subsequent successional sequences and rates of replacement. In some instances a regenerating community is the goal, and management efforts can be adjusted to prevent successional sequences from occurring.
The Search for Global CO2 etc. ‘Greenhouse Effects’
Authors: Idso Sherwood B.
Published: August 2009

The concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in Earth's atmosphere has been steadily increasing since the inception of the Industrial Revolution. Believed to be due primarily to the burning of fossil fuels and the clearing of forests, this phenomenon has two potential consequences of global importance.

Many scientists believe that the CO2 increases projected for Earth's atmosphere by the middle of the next century will lead to a significant warming of the planet which could severely impact world agriculture and cause a melting of polar ice which would greatly raise sea-levels and lead to the flooding of coastal lowlands. Others, however, point to the demonstrable positive effects of elevated concentrations of atmospheric CO2 on plant productivity and wateruse efficiency, suggesting that more CO2 in the air will be beneficial to The Biosphere. Against this backlog of controversy, scientists of both persuasions have attempted the ‘first detection’ of either or both of these effects on a global scale.

With respect to the quest for a climatic ‘signal’, numerous studies conducted to date have come up emptyhanded; it is just not discernible from the natural variations inherent in the data. However, there does appear to be a manifestation of enhanced global photosynthetic activity in the yearly amplitude of atmospheric CO2 concentrations at a number of sites around the world; and the most logical explanation of that seems to be the CO2-induced enhancement of plant growth and development which has been demonstrated to occur in hundreds of laboratory and field experiments.