bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Vernadsky and Biospheral Ecology
Authors: Polunin Nicholas , Grinevald Jacques
Published: August 2009

The concept of The Biosphere as the integrated living and life-supporting system comprising the peripheral envelope of planet Earth together with its surrounding atmosphere so far down, and up, as any form of life exists naturally, stems from the writings of V.I. Vernadsky in the 1920s but has only emerged and become widely accepted in the latest decades. Yet it is quite one of the largest and most important entities with which humans have to deal, being, moreover, the only natural habitat and life-support of Mankind and Nature and, as such, needful of safeguarding and healthful maintenance.

No other meaning than the above should be attached to the term Biosphere, the importance of which concept and actuality being such that it should be far more widely known than is currently the case — to which end a small conference was held in 1987 and a larger one is contemplated in 1990 on the theme of Threats to The Biosphere and Imperative Countermeasures.

Other activities on behalf of The Biosphere include the ‘Johnny Biosphere’ media campaign of Dr John R. Vallentyne, those of The World Campaign for The Biosphere and its sponsoring World Council For The Biosphere, and the newly-established [International] Vernadsky Foundation which it is hoped will have, as one of its main objectives, the fostering of due reverence for life in its full Biospheral context.
Legislative Confrontation of Groupthink in US Natural Resource Agencies
Authors: Kennedy James J.
Published: August 2009

Within the apparent strength of proud, successful, cohesive agencies are often found characteristics that inhibit their ability to adapt successfully in an environment of change. Organizations can be so successful that they feel invulnerable to public petition. They can stereotype, and dismiss as uninformed ‘outsiders’ or biased trouble-makers, any others who criticize them. Janis (1967) has described such organizational tendencies asgroupthinkbehaviour—where proud and successful, professional organizations such as the USDA-Forest Service (USFS), consider themselves superior to the public, and where any external criticism is filtered, rationalized, and stereotyped to minimize the need for organizational introspection and change.

This article looks at how groupthink tendencies were a normal, understandable part of USFS behaviour in the 1950–60s—and how these tendencies inhibited its adaptation to a post-industrial American society that was increasingly concerned with forest recreational and amenity values. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA, 1970) was the first of several laws that directly confronted the utilitarian, developmental values and the groupthink tendencies in federal natural resource agencies. Responding to NEPA (1970) and other legislative and policy changes of that era, the USFS has latterly become a much more sexually and professionally diverse agency, that is more open to public input than formerly. Thisvolte-facehas reduced the probability of groupthink operating in the agency, and consequently improved the latter's prospects of a useful and equitable future.
The Invasion of Highlands in Galá'pagos by the Red Quinine-tree Cinchona succirubra
Authors: Macdonald Ian A.W. , Ortiz Luis , Lawesson Jonas E. , Nowak J. Bosco
Published: August 2009

The alien tree species Cinchona succirubra, the Red Quinine-tree (Rubiaceae), was introduced to the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador, in 1946, for purposes of cultivation, but causes much concern as, by 1987, it was found to cover about 4,000 hectares in the highlands of Santa Cruz Island, changing the original, largely endemic, vegetation. Some limited herbicide trials have been made by the Galápagos National Park Service, but a really successful method of controlling this pest still remains to be found.

The removal of Cinchona plants from a 1000-ha Intensive Control Area (ICA) within the Galápagos National Park has been successful to date. However, large stands of the tree exist in the adjacent agricultural area of Santa Cruz Island, as well as elsewhere in the National Park. With the maturation of these stands, an increased input of Cinchona succirubra seeds to the ICA can be anticipated.

Strengthened use of manual, chemical, and biological, control measures are therefore recommended on a shortterm basis, in order to conserve the unique highland vegetation of Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos.
A Computer-based Method of Wilderness Evaluation
Authors: Lesslie Robert G. , Mackey Brendan G. , Preece Kathryn M.
Published: August 2009

With ever-increasing demands being made on remote and natural lands, planners and managers require more detailed information than hitherto to assist them in monitoring the status of this wilderness resource and developing appropriate and effective management prescriptions. These requirements are addressed by a computer-based wilderness evaluation procedure that has been developed for a national wilderness survey of Australia.

The methodology, based on the wilderness continuum concept (Lesslie & Taylor, 1985), places emphasis on measuring variation in wilderness quality by using four indicators that represent the two essential attributes of remoteness and naturalness. This permits a precise assessment to be made of the wilderness resource, revealing those factors which contribute to or compromise wilderness quality. The computer-based storage and analysis of data enables surveys to be conducted over large, even continental, areas, yet at a relatively fine level of resolution that is appropriate to localized planning needs.

Trial application to the State of Victoria, Australia, demonstrates that the survey procedure can be successfully adapted to a wide range of environments, use-patterns, data-base characteristics, and management objectives, which should be applicable and very widely useful elsewhere.
Roadside Birds in Punjab (India): Relation to Mortality from Vehicles
Authors: Dhindsa Manjit S. , Sandhu Jaswinder S. , Sandhu P.S. , Toor H.S.
Published: August 2009

Roadside bird mortality is a new environmental dimension in developing countries. With the recent increase in the number of high-speed cars and the simultaneous improvement of roads in India, bird-car strikes and the resultant bird mortality are becoming important. To know how many species frequent roads in Punjab and thus may be prone to be killed by fast vehicles, we censused birds along 420 km of roads of different widths and traffic volumes from a vehicle moving at 50–60 km per hour. We also counted birds along transectsc.1 km away from roads, for comparison.

In all, 35 species of birds were recorded on the road proper or within 3 m of either edge. Common Myna (Acridotheres trisitis) was the most abundant species (34.8% of all birds), followed by House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) (29.5%), Ring Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) (13.1%), and House Crow (Corvus splendens) (9.7%). These four species together accounted forc.87% of the total of all bird species. The off-road community consisted of 68 species. The species-richness of granivorous, insectivorous, omnivorous, and some other birds, was less on or near roads than in the off-road transects, but within each community, species having different feeding habits were in similar proportions. About 93% of the total birds on or near roads (as against 66% off-road) were either granivorous or omnivorous.

Our results suggested that granivorous birds are attracted, but insectivorous and other birds are repelled, by roads. Omnivores were equally abundant on and off roads. Food (such as spilled grain) seemed to be the main factor attracting birds to roads. Species diversity and equitability of the bird community on roads (1.82 and 0.51, respectively) were less than those off-roads (3.11 and 0.74, respectively). Wider roads had lower species-diversity and equitability, probably because of the greater volume of traffic on them compared with narrower roads. Species richness and bird abundance seemed not to be affected by roadwidth. Bird mortality on roads is discussed, along with the possibility of roads acting as “ecological traps” for foraging birds.
Cattle Movement and Its Ecological Implications in the Middle Niger Valley Area of Nigeria
Authors: Okaeme Augustine N. , Ayeni Julius S.O. , Oyatogun Moses O. , Wari Musa , Haliru Mohammed M. , Okeyoyin Agboola O.
Published: August 2009

Nomadic migration of cattle in the middle Niger valley is an age-old traditional method of raising cattle by pastoralism. However, this method of free-grazing of animals has been observed to affect some of the ecological balances of the savanna ecobiome. These ecological effects include denudation of the soil through excessive and repeated trampling by cattle on permanent routes, destruction of vegetational structure through uncontrolled burning and tree-lopping by pastorallists, dissemination of animal diseases due to long-distance trekking and unrestricted movement of cattle, and other social problems such as conflict with farmers when animals infiltrate into arable farmlands.

With increasing use of the limited land-resources for other human activities, the need to create grazing reserves and provide infrastructures to reduce the widespread movement of cattle is recommended. This will improve the productivity of cattle and check any unfavourable ecological repercussions resulting from their unrestricted movement.
Assessing the Impacts of Human Activities on Nesting of Loggerhead Sea-turtles (Caretta caretta L.) on Zákynthos Island, Western Greece
Authors: Arianoutsou Margarita
Published: August 2009

The island of Zákynthos, in western Greece, supports the most important nesting biotope of the endangered Loggerhead Sea-turtle (Caretta caretta) within Europe. The evaluation of the impacts of human activities, such as beach-use by people, lights, noise, and traffic, on its nesting habitats revealed that they are running out of time under the pressure of rapid and massive tourist development. It is therefore essential for the protection of this unique species to conserve its nesting biotope. This implies adequate, ecologically sound management, which might well be ensured through the establishment of a Marine Park.
The El Kala National Park and Environs, Algeria: An Ecological Evaluation
Authors: Stevenson Anthony C. , Skinner Jamie , Hollis G. Edward , Smart Michael
Published: August 2009

The structure of the El Kala National Park, its aims, zonation scheme for conservation and development, and boundaries, are described. Those ecobiomes and ecosystems which merit the highest classification and protection within the National Park are described and evaluated along with the numerous sites of similar importance outside the Park. A summary evaluation table (Table III) of the habitats, the species, and the resources for sustainable utilization, is presented.

Three wetlands within the Park—Lake Oubeïra (perennial freshwater lake: a Ramsar Convention site important for wintering waterfowl), Lake Tonga (semi-perennial freshwater lake with surrounding marsh and earn a Ramsar Convention site with significant numbers of breeding waterbirds), and the Bou Redim marsh (freshwater carr with open water and a breeding colony of herons) are placed in the highest category of protection for the National Park. Four wetlands outside the National Park—the Mkhada marsh (8,900 ha of seasonally-flooded freshwater marsh), Lake Fetzara (15,000 ha freshwater lake now refilled with water in winter), Lac des Oiseaux (40 ha perennial freshwater lake), and the Cheffia Reservoir (3,000 ha)—are considered as important and consequently deserving of legislative protection. A marine section of the Park needs further study.

The highest level of protection is recommended for the coastal dunes, including alder carrs, within and outside the Park; for the pristine low-montane Cork Oak woodlands, including the last remnants of Pinus pinaster ssp. renoui in Algeria; for the rare Lusitanian Oak forests including the small and declining Algerian population of Barbary Deer (Cervus elephas barbarus); and for some of the last remaining riverine woodland in North Africa. In addition, the healthy and diverse population of raptors is noted. The megalithic and later archaeological remains are extensive, valuable, and little-known.M

Ecological improvements to Lakes Tonga and Fetzara, which were drained in the 1930s, have recently developed from the operation of the old sluices to hold water back in the lakes, although at Lake Tonga some of the marginal vegetation and alder forest appears to be suffering from the prolonged inundation. The construction of the large Mexanna Dam within the National Park will desiccate the Mkhada Marsh, and Lake Oubeïra may have its ecological character changed if it is used for regulatory storage. The dune ecosystems are being affected by agriculture, groundwater pumping, industrial forestry (including perhaps a pulp mill), and the new road which is being driven into the heart of the dunes. Fishing and aquaculture may further reduce the suitability of Lakes Oubeïra and Melah for wintering waterfowl, and deliberate fires continue to ravage the Cork Oak forests.
Environmental, Economic, and Social Aspects of Marine Aggregates' Exploitation
Authors: Charlier Roger H. , Charlier Constance C.
Published: August 2009

The progressive depletion of land sources of construction materials poses increasingly acute supply problems to the building industry. Stricter rules than currently exist in relation to environmental concerns and their effective enforcement, while undoubtedly laudable, would exacerbate the situation and preclude opening, in many instances, new land-quarries. The search for alternative sources led naturally to exploitation of marine deposits. Beaches and near-shore areas have long been tapped for relatively small amounts of sand and gravel, but the new, greatly-increased demands for these materials poses a serious threat to many shores. Tourism and mining, unavoidably, have come into conflict. Beach protection, and, with increasing frequency, ‘renourishment’, is antipodal to granulates' mining. Offshore dredging has in some cases triggered accelerated beach erosion. The general rise of sea-level, and the consequences of exceptional-strength storms, have worsened erosion and greatly disturbed — occasionally irreversibly — the local sedimentary budget and transit. Technological progress, and more and more sophisticated equipment, permit greater efficiency in, and greater depth of, dredging operations.

Besides their use for construction materials, the search for minerals in the marine domain also affects sands and gravels: placers and ores are available here, and mining in the coastal zone is no longer a marginal undertaking. Exploitation of ‘granulates’ ranks today as the second most important marine mining activity after oil extraction. Hence it is a top-priority topic for Quaternary economic geologists and environment specialists alike, while public awareness has henceforth to be reckoned with. Communication and information techniques must consequently be designed and vigorously propagated.
Land-use Changes and Resource Degradation in South–West Masailand, Tanzania
Authors: Mwalyosi Raphael B.B.
Published: August 2009

This study uses sequential aerial photography to identify environmental changes. The interpreted aerial photos constitute a data-bank of past and present land cover/uses.* Substantial changes have been observed in the areas of cultivation, woody cover, and bare ground.

An increased 449.9% of the surveyed area has been cleared for cultivation during the last 30 years, while 77.2% of the former woodland has been destroyed during the same period, contributing to a 15.6% increase in grassland. Bare ground increased by 33.1%. Increased cultivation is caused by increase in the population of subsistence farmers and mechanization. Expansion of cultivation and overexploitation of woody resources (fuel-wood and building materials) are the causes of decline in the woody vegetation. As consumption of woody resources exceeds natural regeneration, woody cover is gradually replaced by grasslands.

Diminution of the woody vegetation results in shortage of fuel-wood and building materials and consequent misery to the local people. Expansion of cultivation reduces grazing-land, leading to overstocking and overgrazing. Extensive cultivation, based on soil ‘mining’, subjects more and more land to physical and chemical soil degradation, leading in turn to decline in soil fertility and crop yields. Both overgrazing and extensive cultivation accelerate soil erosion in the area, reducing available cropland, while siltation and flooding cause serious damage to property and infrastructure.

Lack of effective land-use planning, uncontrolled population growth, and introduction of the Tanzanian village agricultural production system in a semi-arid area, have contributed to the present deplorable state of affairs. In general, the area shows increasing environmental degradation and resource depletion, while very little conservation effort is being made to reverse the trend. These results indicate that a sustainable resource management plan is urgently needed for the area.
Present and Future Use of Fencing in the Management of Larger African Mammals
Authors: Hoare Richard E.
Published: August 2009

The varying reasons are outlined for needing to control the movements or otherwise manage a wide range of African animal wildlife species by means of fencing. In all cases there is an underlying conflict of interest between people and animals — principally the larger mammals. Fencing is seen as the most powerful tool in this process of land-use division, and high expectations of fences are held by people who are adversely affected by wildlife activities and similarly by many conservationists. To date the main determinants in the siting and construction of fences have been political pressure or the availability of funds; wildlife fencing is perhaps the only factor having a substantial influence on ecosystems and animal populations that has remained virtually devoid of any serious input of ecological knowledge, of systematic investigation, or of environmental legislation.

The wild species requiring management are many and varied in individual size, group size, and dispersal patterns; they also exhibit an array of special behaviours when confronted with a barrier. This means that any barrier will come under very variable levels and types of challenge, and that the effects of it on the biology of both target and non-target species must be carefully considered.

Research on the behaviour of animals at fences has been limited, being mostly confined to domestic species or non-African wildlife. Certainly, very little systematic investigation has been carried out to determine whether fences have achieved their objectives or been economically justified, and to what extent they have caused environmental side-effects on the population dynamics of animals or the disturbance of plant communities.

Current evidence suggests that electric or power fences are an increasingly efficient way of managing wild mammals and that fencing programmes should become more deflecting than encircling. Fences create ‘hard edges’ between dissimilar forms of land-use and cause long-term inflexibility that limits planning and forecloses options. As the pressure for land becomes more and more acute, the control of wildlife with the help of fences needs to develop into a specialized field of its own, based on sounder ecological, sociological, and economic, principles than hitherto, within the expanding scope of adaptive wildlife management.
Tree–Habitat Relationships in Urban Hong Kong
Authors: Jim Chi Yung
Published: August 2009

Trees, as welcome and necessary components of Nature and functional landscape elements in cities, provide a worth-while theme for applied ecological study. Of the different approaches, the micro-scale evaluations of tree—habitat interactions can throw light on practical tree management. The roadside trees in Hong Kong, generally dwelling in a stressful physical and physiological environment, have been surveyed in detail in the field with regard to species composition, tree structure, tree defects, and habitat characteristics.

Despite a diversified floristic composition, the street-tree population is dominated by a small number of common species, of which 12 have been chosen for in-depth evaluations. The recent emphasis on exotic and fast-growing species with limited final dimensions will modify the treescape in the long run. Many existing large specimens have been sacrificed to urban redevelopments. The differential performance of different species with reference to the occurrence of defects has been interpreted. Almost all the trees are inflicted by some structural or physiological problems, and large trees are practically collectors of diverse maladies.

The urban tree habitats of Hong Kong are characterized by gravely cramped and stressful conditions from the soil-level upwards and especially as regards headroom. Tree-habitat correlations and associations suggest a need to plant rapid-growing, tall but narrow-canopied species that are able to resist a maximum proportion of the inevitable tree defects and diseases. The shortage of good-quality habitats with space for tree-growth, and the accompanying unfavourable ecological niches, are crucial factors for tree existence. The prospects of street trees in the long-term urban planning and upgrading for environmental quality, with special reference to the provision and preservation of proper habitats, are elaborated, with Hong Kong as a practical example.
Designing for Nature in Cities: A Case-study of the Hill Area of the Summer Villa Estate, Chengde, China
Authors: Jiang Gaoming , Huang Yinxiao , Lin Shunhua
Published: August 2009

The Summer Villa estate was famous for its wildness, preservation of Nature, pleasant climate, and beautiful scenery in the Qing Dynasty when the natural ecosystems were strictly conserved by the Emperors Kangxi and Qianlong (1703–93). Plants on the estate played an important role in this embellishment, 28 out of the 72 noted scenic sites being named after plants or plant etc. materials. The estate has been seriously destroyed in the last 150 years by wars, fires, and natural disasters, before the foundation of the new China. The damage was especially serious in the Hill Area, comprising some 80% of the estate.

The present vegetation in the Hill Area is the result of reafforestion in the 1950s. Seven different plant communities, composed of natural and artificial elements, are now found there, most extensive of which is the Pinus tabulaeformis artificial forest with Vitex chinensis dominating the shrub layer. Some of these communities are unsuitable for the scenic spots on which they stand, some are not adaptable to the habitats, some have problems such as consisting of single species — so resulting in susceptibility to pests and offering little possibility for birds to make their nests and mammals to colonize.

The natural environment in the estate is becoming widely degraded, with serious SO2 and Pb pollution caused by tourism and urbanization. Plants — especially needleleaf trees — are sensitive to these pollutants.

This paper discusses the process of designing for Nature in the Hill Area of the Summer Villa estate, much of the work being concerned with problems of the present vegetation and the best approach to deal with them. To create Nature for the City of Chengde and at the same time recover the natural beauty in the Summer Villa estate, much attention is paid to the natural characteristics of suitable plants — especially those ‘historical’ natural species which can adapt to the present habitats. Five subsidary landscape areas with different plant characteristics in different habitats have been designed. Maps of the ‘historical’ natural vegetation, the present vegetation, and designs for Nature in the Hill Area, have been drawn and are here reproduced for practical use.
Biological Conservation Implications of Water-level Fluctuations in a Wetland of International Importance: Lake Kerkini, Macedonia, Greece
Authors: Pyrovetsi Myrto , Papastergiadou Evanthia
Published: August 2009

Kerkini Lake in Greece, a reservoir maintained principally for agricultural irrigation purposes on the Strymon River, has been classified as a ‘Wetland of International Importance’ according to the Ramsar Convention. Hydrological conditions favoured the formation of a shallow, very productive lake, rich in species diversity and biotic abundance. The importance of the wetland lay in its complex zonation of various habitats which mainly consisted of: shallow open water with sand-strips, beaches, and mud-flats; shallow-water areas with communities of emergent vegetation; a lowland hardwood riparian forest mainly ofSalixandTamarixspecies; a shrub-swamp; and extensive wet meadows. The diversity of habitats supported a rich waterbird fauna for breeding, stationing during migration, and wintering.

Nevertheless, in 1982 a new high-dam was constructed, higher embankments along the banks of the Lake were established, and other works were carried out (to increase the water capacity of the reservoir), in response to irrigation demands. No consideration was given to the wetland resources. Operation of the new dam resulted in changes in the flooding etc. regime, with severe impact on the biotic resources of the wetland, especially by waterlevel increases of more than 5 m in less than 4 months during spring — the critical growing- and breedingseason. Wetland heterogeneity and the mosaic structure of water-land-vegetation were thereby lost.

Now the riparian forest is diminishing in area and declining in productivity, the reed-swamp with emergent macrophytes has been lost, and wet meadows have also disappeared. Deep flooding and the loss of these habitats is reflected in marked decline in the densities of migratory waterbird populations and, most important, in drastic shrinkage in the populations of breeding species. Similar impact is observed in the dramatic decline of fish species diversity and abundance. In general, nowadays, Kerkini presents an alarming example of loss of biodiversity and accelerating impoverishment of its former biotic resources.

In view of the projected plans to increase further the water-storage capacity of the Lake by raising its waterlevel, measures are urgently needed: (a) for preventing such actions; (b) for restoring and maintaining marsh conditions, and (c) for ecologically sound management and sustainable use of the wetland resources.
The Exxon Valdez Oil-spill: Ecological and Social Consequences
Authors: Shaw David G.
Published: August 2009

Major oil-spills, such as occurred following the grounding of the tanker Exxon Valdez in March 1989 in Prince William Sound, Alaska, account for only a small fraction of the total anthropogenic input of petroleum to the marine environment. Yet major spills can result in significant and even acute impacts, trigger ecological changes requiring decades for recovery, and command considerable public attention. Thus catastrophic oil-spills in general, and the Exxon Valdez spill in particular, differ from other chronic human alterations of coastal marine systems.

Estimates of the fate of the 38,000 metric tons of crude oil lost by the Exxon Valdez are imprecise, but perhaps 30–40% evaporated, 10–25% was recovered, and the rest remains in the marine environment. Roughly 1,500 km of coastline were oiled in varying degrees. Much of this coastline consists of gravel beaches into which oil penetrated to depths as great as 1 m.

The ecological effects of the spill on the marine environments of Prince William Sound and adjacent coastal areas of the Gulf of Alaska were extensive, but natural recovery, aided by clean-up efforts, is expected. Judging by the consequences of other oil-spills affecting rocky shorelines, as well as previous natural and anthropogenic disturbances to Prince William Sound, it appears likely that most affected biotic communities and ecosystems will recover to approximately their pre-spill functional and structural characteristic within from five to twenty-five years.

This oil-spill had major social effects. Many individuals, whether personally present or viewing the spill around the world on television, were saddened by the environmental damage, and felt that an important public trust had been broken. These feelings, together with dissatisfaction with the results of early clean-up efforts, gave rise to popular sentiment in favour of every possible clean-up and mitigation effort — regardless of cost, effectiveness, or possible negative consequences.

The response to the Exxon Valdez oil-spill by government and the oil industry revealed serious inadequacies in the plans and institutions for dealing with major marine oilspills in the United States. Attempts to recover spilled oil, and to respond to the spill's environmental consequences, were hampered by a low level of preparedness and lack of clear agreement about the goals of response efforts. Attempts are under way to improve oil-spill prevention and response capabilities in Alaska and the rest of the United States. However, these efforts are not yet complete, and it remains to be seen whether an improved response will be made to the next major oil-spill.
Sustainable Development and Biotechnology
Authors: Mannion Antoinette M.
Published: August 2009

Sustainable development requires that resources are used as conservationally and as optimally as possible in order to maintain an adequate resource-base for future generations. It is not an easily-defined concept, nor is there any single way of achieving it. It does, however, focus on the environment, as this provides the resource-base that supports all society. Among the recently-evolved scientific developments, biotechnology has many applications that can improve resource-use. It involves the manipulation of organisms to undertake specific processes and includes genetic manipulation or ‘engineering’.

In an environmental context, biotechnology has its greatest contribution to make in agriculture — especially by improving crop-yields. It offers opportunities to design crops for specific environments and to make crops more efficient producers of food-energy than otherwise. Biotechnology can thus manipulate primary energy-flows; it can also reduce fossil-fuel energy inputs into agricultural systems. It could also contribute to the mitigation of environmental problems such as deforestation and soil erosion. Both food- and fuel-energy resources are key components of sustainability. Sources produced biotechnologically, e.g. SCPs and biomass fuels, can supplement those produced conventionally.

Resource recovery and recycling, and hazardous-waste disposal, are other environmentally-beneficial facets of biotechnology. These are equally pertinent to sustainable development because they extend the resource-base. In this context, biotechnology constitutes a vehicle for the improved manipulation of biogeochemical cycles.

There are, however, potentially significant drawbacks in the use of biotechnology. These focus on technology transfer between the Developed and Developing World; this is economic and political, and relates to intellectual property rights, etc. Environmentally, the disadvantages concern the potential creation of ‘ecological ogres’ which could generate ecological disasters. Moreover, biotechnology relies heavily on the availability of a sustainable genepool, i.e. on biodiversity; indeed the two are interdependent. The high rates of extinction of plant and animal species that are currently occurring are thus limiting biotechnological opportunities for the future.
Carbon Storage and Land-use in Extractive Reserves, Acre, Brazil
Authors: Brown I. Foster , Nepstad Daniel C. , Pires Ivan de O. , Luz Leda M. , Alechandre Andréa S.
Published: August 2009

Large-scale forest conversion in Brazil, primarily to cattle pasture, contributes significantly to the global anthropogenic emission of CO2 into the atmosphere. An alternative land-use, namely extractive reserves for forest residents, may serve as one means of using Amazonian forests sustainably and of maintaining carbon in living matter rather than adding it to that in the atmosphere.

In the Seringal (former rubber estate) Porongaba (6,800 ha) of the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve, Acre, Brazil, primary forest still covers more than 90% of the area. Total biomass in primary forest is estimated at 426 tons per ha, equivalent to 213 t C per ha. Rubber tappers effectively maintain about 60,000 tons of carbon per household (family unit) in forest biomass and thus out of the atmosphere. Deforestation of primary forest was less than 0.6% per yr — much less than rates of natural disturbances for other neotropical forests.

Slash-and-burn agriculture in the Seringal Porongaba releases carbon at a gross rate of some 200 t C per yr per household. Net releases are much less, as regrowth forests absorb carbon at rates of about 9 t C per ha per yr. The net areal flux of carbon to the atmosphere from land-use in Seringal is much less than one ton of carbon per ha per yr, which is equivalent to less than 0.3% per yr of the carbon stock in forest biomass. If Seringal Porongaba is typical of the three million hectares in extractive reserves in Brazilian Amazonia, then these reserves are calculated to retain 0.6 Gigatons of carbon in the terrestrial biota.

Adverse changes in income patterns for rubber tappers could lead to abandonment of extractive reserves or increased deforestation within them. Diversification and improvement of income from non-timber forest products are needed to maintain rubber tappers in extractive reserves. Most beneficiaries of carbon storage in these and other reserves live outside Brazil; devising means of recompensation for these benefits is a challenge for the global society.
Protected Natural Areas and the Military
Authors: Westing Arthur H.
Published: August 2009

Examined here is the impact exerted by the military sector of human society on national parks and other protected natural areas. Disruption during wartime, both by regular and by insurgent armed forces, results largely from the collateral effects of their operations and weapons as well as from illegal logging, hunting, fishing, and pillaging. Disruption during peacetime results largely from training exercises and poaching.

A number of actions are suggested to mitigate the military impact on protected natural areas, among them: enhanced environmental education and training (in both the civil and military sectors), greater local participation in the management of protected natural areas, creation of greater respect for an expanded system of demilitarized World Natural Heritage Sites, and especially the nurturing among all peoples of a greater respect for Nature.
Heat Pollution and Global Warming
Authors: Fischer Gad
Published: August 2009

The major anthropogenic sources of heat pollution in 1989 have been identified, and the ultimate heat generated has been calculated. Those sources include the combustion of fossil fuels and of biomass, nuclear fission, and the burning of forests. The total rate of heat generated from such sources for the world as a whole, 16 to 26 TW, is compared with a very approximate estimate of the heat retained at the Earth's surface, 291 TW, resulting from decreased radiative heat-loss due to increased concentration of atmospheric CO2. However, heat pollution may be more important than the ratio of about 5 to 9% would appear to indicate. It is a direct process producing heat at the surface of the globe, not subject to moderating feedback mechanisms, and is expected to be most pronounced at land-based sites marking centres of high industrial and other human developments. On the other hand, global warming due to increased atmospheric CO2 is an indirect process that is dependent on many factors, not all of which are known or measured — such as the extensive smoke-clouds resulting from the forest fires in Amazonia. Compared with preindustrial times, the rate of heat pollution has grown by a factor of more than forty.
Variations in Success of Eelgrass Transplants over a Five-years' Period
Authors: Harrison Paul G.
Published: August 2009

An Eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) bed in a very shallow subtidal habitat adjacent to a busy port in southwestern British Columbia, Canada, was the site of experimental transplants. Eelgrass populations were successfully established, using a variety of transplanting techniques, namely cores (plants with the sediment retained around the rhizomes and roots), sprigs (plants from which the sediment had been washed), and sprigs anchored to buried lengths of iron rod. Transplants took place in two sites — (1) a shallow channel that had eroded from the sea into the Eelgrass bed, and (2) at the landward edge of the existing vegetation.
The Rate and Extent of Deforestation in Brazilian Amazonia
Authors: Fearnside Philip M.
Published: August 2009

Examination of the often contradictory estimates of the rate and extent of deforestation in Brazilian Amazonia leads to a ‘best estimate’ of the cumulative area of forest cleared through 1988 as 345 × 103km2(including old clearings), or 8.2% of the 4 × 106km2forested portion of Brasil's 5 × 106km2‘Legal Amazon’ region.
Rain-forests and Geothermal Energy in Hawaii: Environmental Concerns Expose Flawed State Planning-process
Authors: Hannah Lee
Published: August 2009

Protests and legal challenges have marked the past seven years of geothermal energy development in Hawaii. Environmentalists seeking to block geothermal development in Hawaiian rain-forests have used legal and civil disobedience tactics to delay development. These are the types of actions which the Hawaii State Legislature sought to avoid when it passed the State's Geothermal Subzone Act in 1983.
The Distribution of Seabird Biomass in the Australian Antarctic Territory: Implications for Conservation
Authors: Woehler Eric J.
Published: August 2009

The minimum total breeding seabird biomass in the Australian Antarctic Territory was estimated to be 9,971.1 t, dominated by Emperor Penguins, 3,863 t (38.7%) and Adélie Penguins, 5,825 t (58.4%). The 5° sector between 75°E and 80°E, in south-east Prydz Bay, held 35% of the total AAT seabird biomass. Prydz Bay has been shown to be an area of high productivity, and the concentration of seabird biomass in this area reflects the high biomass of prey species and the availability of nesting habitat in the Vestfold Hills, a large ice-free area adjacent to Prydz Bay. Activities associated With research stations are believed to be the only factors that have impacted on breeding seabird populations to date, but minerals activities, tourism and support facilities, and a Krill fishery, are future conservation issues that will have an impact on this major concentration of seabird biomass in East Antarctica.
Tropical Moist Forest Management: The Urgency of Transition to Sustainability
Authors: Goodland Robert J.A. , Asibey Emmanuel O.A. , Post Jan C. , Dyson Mary B.
Published: August 2009

The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), an increasing number of citizens and foresters, and the vast majority of environmentalists, must surely realize that most current use of tropical moist forest is unsustainable. The environmental services of tropical forest, and the biodiversity which it harbours — the world's richest source — is being lost so rapidly that consumer boycotts and other trade constraints aim to reduce the rate of irreversible damage but have so far proved little-effective. On one hand, tropical moist deforestation benefits exceedingly few people, and then only ephemerally. On the other hand, such deforestation permanently impoverishes, deracinates, or sickens, millions of people, impairs local or global environmental services, and exacerbates global environmental risks. The World Resources Institute ranks logging as one of the top causes leading to deforestation.
Ecology and Management of Lake Naivasha, Kenya, in Relation to Climatic Change, Alien Species' Introductions, and Agricultural Development
Authors: Harper David M. , Mavuti Kenneth M. , Muchiri S. Mucai
Published: August 2009

Lake Naivasha is an important freshwater resource for Kenya's foreign-currency-earning agriculture and tourism, and for water-supply. It has always experienced extensive water-level fluctuations as a consequence of irregular rainfall patterns that are affected by continental-scale climatic events, and its communities — particularly of aquatic plants — were adapted to these changes.
Pesticide Use in the Sub-humid Zones of Nigeria: Implications for Conservation of Aquatic Resources
Authors: Mbagwu Iheanyi G. , Ita Edet O.
Published: August 2009

Recently, intensification of both rain-fed and dry-season irrigated agriculture has necessitated widespread use of pesticides in the extensive sub-humid zones of Nigeria. In this region is located over 80% of Nigeria's existing surface area of reservoirs in the country. The majority of these reservoirs were built artificially for a multiplicity of uses among which fisheries and Nature conservation ranked very high.—
‘Green’ Development on the Cape Verde Islands
Authors: Sandys-Winsch Claire , Harris Philip J.C.
Published: August 2009

Owing to their sub-Sahelian climate, the Cape Verde Islands, lying off the coast of West Africa, experience severe problems of soil erosion and surface-water loss. Thus the development of this country has included widescale planting of trees, mainly Prosopis juliflora, and the building of contour walls and small dams. Agroforestry species are being tested for both erosion control and the production of wood and timber. The conservation of native crop species, and the use of integrated pestcontrol, have been given priority in Cape Verde's agricultural development.
The Spread of Ecotourism: Some Planning Implications
Authors: Nelson J. Gordon
Published: August 2009

The idea of ecotourism is being promoted and supported, by growing numbers of people and groups in different parts of the world, as a major means of dealing with the damaging effects of tourism. Yet the meaning of the term varies among different people, projects, and places. Evidence from national parks, where this type of tourism has been promoted for many years, shows that such tourism can cause substantial long-term cumulative changes in environment. Concepts such as ecotourism, green tourism, and sustainable tourism development, are general in their nature and have to be described, planned, and assessed, in detail on the ground in terms of the socioeconomic and environmental conditions applying in different places. In this respect, careful planning and management procedures are needed not only for ecotourism but indeed for all forms of tourism.
Some Data on Elemental Composition of Airborne Particulate Matter in the Northern Negev Desert, Israel
Authors: Offer Zvi Y. , Steinberger Yosef
Published: August 2009

Airbone particulate samples were collected during 1989 in the northern Negev desert, Israel, using two Sierra ultra-high-volume dust samplers with cascade impactors on glass-fibre filters. A total of 12 elements were detected, of which only eight were present in relatively high concentrations, as was indicated by using an x-ray spectra XL-LINK system. During the study period, the mean annual airborne concentration was 102 μg·m−3, with a minimum and maximum concentration of 0.17 and 1.376 μg·m−3 per 12 hours, respectively. Eight elements (A1, Si, Ca, S, K, Cl, Fe, and Ti) were found in relatively high concentrations.
Social Forestry in Environmentally Degraded Regions of India: Case-study of the Mayurakshi Basin
Authors: Chatterjee Nandini
Published: August 2009

Social Forestry (SF) schemes have been implemented in India since the 1980s to combat deforestation, increase the supply of fuel-wood and fodder, and provide minor forest products for the rural populaton. The relevance of such Schemes in the Mayurakshi River Basin is basically due to its environmentally degraded state. Latterly the Basin has been brought under the Mayurakshi River Valley Project, but unless measures are undertaken to mitigate problems of soil erosion, the efficiency of the Project will be hampered.
An Agenda for Conservation Research and Its Application, with A Case-study from Amazonian Ecuador
Authors: Pearman Peter B.
Published: August 2009

The watershed of the Upper Napo River (UNR), in the western portion of Napo Province in Amazonian Ecuador, holds one of the most species-rich tropical forests known on Earth. It is an area in which agricultural development and associated forest destruction are at loggerheads with conservation of biodiversity. This essay briefly describes the major factors that influence and threaten biodiversity in the UNR watershed.
Ecotourism and Birds in Coastal New Jersey: Contrasting Responses of Birds, Tourists, and Managers
Authors: Burger Joanna , Gochfeld Michael , Niles Larry J.
Published: August 2009

People of diverse cultures appreciate and observe wildlife. With the increase in the importance of economic, social, and aesthetic, values of wildlife comes the responsibility for wise management and use of these resources to ensure biodiversity and the continued wellbeing of the populations. We describe several ways in which ecotourists affect the behaviour, reproductive success, and population levels, of breeding and migratory birds in New Jersey — a heavily industrialized, coastal US state with a dense human population. We use several case-studies to illustrate the effects of ecotourists on birds: heronries, breeding Least Terns (Sterna antillarum), foraging Piping Plovers (Charadrius melodus) during the breeding season, migrant shorebirds and gulls at Caven Point and Delaware Bay, and migrant hawks at Cape May.
Exploitation and Conservation of Brown Mussel Stocks by Coastal People of Transkei
Authors: Siegfried W. Roy , Hockey Philip A.R. , Crowe Anna A.
Published: August 2009

The Brown Mussel (Perna perna) is an important fooditem for coastal people in the Republic of Transkei, providing some 16% of their annual protein requirements in 1978, though the energy benefit associated with the consumption of Mussels is relatively low. Uncontrolled heavy exploitation of the stocks of these Mussels resulted in reductions in both their density and size between 1978 and 1984. The reduced availability of Mussels to collectors led to increased exploitation-pressure on other, longer-lived, intertidal species: the proportion of limpets in the take of collectors rose from 7% in 1978 to 37% in 1984, while the proportion of Brown Mussels decreased from 92% to 57%.
Environmental Impacts of Peat Mining in the United States: Documentation for Wetland Conservation
Authors: Winkler Marjorie G. , DeWitt Calvin B.
Published: August 2009

In this paper we present documentation for the realistic assessment of the concept of peat as an energy alternative in the United States. A proposal to mine peat in north-central Florida provides the framework from which a community worksheet for the evaluation of a peat-mining proposal has been developed. Documentation is also given of crucial local and regional environmental impacts that would result from large-scale disturbance of peatlands and the subsequent removal of peat, among which are:

1) toxic-metal release from peat,

2) eutrophication of surface waters,

3) increased runoff (including flooding and impacts on fisheries),

4) release of organic pollutants,

5) changes of salt and freshwater systems,

6) changes in ground-water supply, and

7) air pollution and fires.

Other community concerns, such as zoning regulations, sewage disposal impacts, and disruption of stable industries, must also be considered.
Phytomonitoring of Air Pollution in the Vicinity of a Petroleum Refinery
Authors: Prasad B.J. , Rao D.N.
Published: August 2009

Petroleum refineries are major sources of air pollution, giving off particulate matter, volatile hydrocarbons, and oxides of sulphur and nitrogen. The field-study here reported was conducted in the vicinity of Barauni Petroleum Refinery, in the Begusarai district of Bihar, India, with the objects of measuring the level of pollution through phytomonitoring and assessing the overall impact of the Refinery's emissions on vegetation.