bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The MINK Project: A New Methodology for Identifying Regional Influences of, and Responses to, Increasing Atmospheric CO2 and Climate Change
Authors: Rosenberg Norman J. , Crosson Pierre R.
Published: August 2009

In a study that was recently completed at Resources for the Future, the impacts of a future change in climate on the total economy of the Missouri–Iowa–Nebraska–Kansas (MINK) region were assessed, as were the possibilities of response (including adaptation) to the climatic change. Impacts on agriculture, forestry, water resources, and energy, were emphasized. The study was future-oriented, focusing on the year 2030, by which time the effects of ‘greenhouse’ warming may be felt. The records of the AD 1930s were used to provide an analog of the kinds of climate change (warmer and drier) that climate models predict will occur in the MINK region.

Our results indicate that impacts of the projected climate change on agriculture, at least in the future, are expected to be profound, but that likely-to-be available technologies should facilitate substantial adaptation; that current water-resource limitations in the region would be exacerbated and lead to an eastward shift in irrigation; that impacts on forestry would be severe, and that opportunities for forestry adaptation would be very limited unless biomass production were to become economically viable; and that the net impacts on energy supply and demand would be small and adaptation to them relatively simple.

Climate change in the MINK region could, of course, go somewhat beyond the conditions represented by the AD 1930s analog, in which case the findings of this study may be too optimistic. However, the future-oriented ‘MINK methodology’ is not scenario-dependent, and can be used to test other, more severe (or benign), scenarios as well. Further, the capacity for adaptation to climate change demonstrated in this study, may remain applicable even in more stringent circumstances.
Australia's Distinctive National Parks System
Authors: Wescott Geoffrey Charles
Published: August 2009

Australia possesses a distinctive national parks and conservation reserves system, in which it is the State Governments rather than the Federal Government which owns, plans, and manages, national parks and other conservation reserves.

Most Australian States declared their first national parks in the latter quarter of last century, Australia's first national park being declared in New South Wales in March 1879. These critical declarations were followed by a slow accumulation of parks and reserves through to 1968. The pace of acquisition then quickened dramatically with an eight-fold expansion in the total area of national parks between 1968 and 1990, at an average rate of over 750,000 ha per annum. The present Australian system contains 530 national parks covering 20.18 million hectares or 2.6% of the land-mass. A further 28.3 million hectares is protected in other parks and conservation reserves. In terms of the percentage of their land-mass now in national parks, the leading States are Tasmania (12.8%) and Victoria (10.0%), with Western Australia (1.9%) and Queensland (2.1%) trailing far behind, and New South Wales (3.92%) and South Australia (3.1%) lying between.

The Australian system is also compared with the Canadian and USA systems. All three are countries of widely comparable cultures that have national parks covering similar percentage areas, but Canada and the USA have far fewer national parks than Australia and they are in general of much greater size. In addition, Canada and the USA ‘resource’ these parks far better than the Australians do theirs. The paper concludes that Australia needs to rationalize its current system by introducing direct funding, by the Federal Government, of national park management, and duly examining the whole system of reserves from a national rather than States' viewpoint.
Population, Environment, and Development
Authors: Myers Norman
Published: August 2009

We face major and intimately interlinked problems of population, environment, and development. They are so profound and pervasive that they surely represent a uniquescale challenge for Humankind. The issues and policy responses will preoccupy the best understanding on the part of political leaders and scientists alike during the planning process leading up to the United Nations Conference on Population and Development which is to be held in Cairo from 5–13 September 1994.

Scientific aspects are to be addressed at an earlier conference that is to be attended by representatives of some 80 of the world's academies in New Delhi in late October 1993. The present paper reviews the principal factors and analyses relating to the three problems, with emphasis upon their interactive relationships. It concludes with an extended list of strategies to reduce both population growth and environmental degradation—twin challenges to be tackled within a framework of sustainable development, to which both will make critical contributions.
Contradictions in Sustainability
Authors: Dovers Stephen R. , Handmer John W.
Published: August 2009

Issues of environment and development are increasingly being analysed within the framework offered by sustainability and sustainable development. This article explores a number of deep-seated contradictions and tensions that exist within these concepts at least as they are currently construed. It is noted that these contradictions are often glossed over in intellectual and policy debates, but are nonetheless profound and should be made explicit.

The contradictions identified and discussed in the paper are as follows:

–the paradox of technology (cause or cure?);

–uncertainty and decision-making (humility or arrogance in the face of ignorance?);

–intergenerational and intragenerational equity (a politically impossible trade-off?);

–economic growth versus ecological limits (is ‘sustainable development’ an oxymoron?);

–the reconciliation of individual and collective interests, applying both to individuals in their society, and nation states in the international community;

–the potential conflict between the diversity of democracy and purposeful action;

–differing kinds of resilience in the face of change (resistance, marginal change, and adaptability); and

–the question of whether or not optimization is anti-sustainability.

In conclusion we ask what the implications of this labyrinth of contradictions are for moving towards a sustainable state. Are these contradictions too profound and thus insurmountable, or does Homo sapiens' apparently innate ability to live with contradiction and logical inconsistency offer a way out?
Analysis of Recent Climatic Changes in the Arabian Gulf Region
Authors: Nasrallah Hassan A. , Balling Robert C.
Published: August 2009

Within the past few years, interest in climate change has increased dramatically in the face of the many apocalyptic predictions associated with the highly-popularized ‘greenhouse’ effect. Accordingly, scientists have produced many studies based on global, hemispheric, and regional, climatic data-bases. While most of the regional studies have been based on data from North America, Europe, and Australia, little research has been conducted in other areas of the world that have an equal (or greater) economic and climatic stake in the ‘greenhouse’ debate. In this investigation, we analyse the climatic records of the Arabian Gulf area in an attempt to identify recent changes that may or may not be related to any ‘greenhouse’ effects.

The observed climate changes over the past century in the Arabian Gulf area include (a) an increase in temperature of 0.65°C, (b) warming in summer and little or no warming in winter, (c) no warming in the first 60 years of record but accelerated warming in the most recent 40 years, and (d) a small decline in precipitation. In many cases, the results are unlike those found in the analysis of Northern Hemispheric and/or global climate records. However, many of these observed climate changes in the Arabian Gulf area are broadly consistent with 2×CO2 predictions from various numerical climate models. We hope that the analyses presented in this investigation will aid decisionmakers in their difficult policymaking activities.
Tourism and Short-term Behavioural Responses of Nesting Masked, Red-footed, and Blue-footed, Boobies in the Galápagos
Authors: Burger Joanna , Gochfeld Michael
Published: August 2009

Increasingly, seabirds nesting on islands are exposed to tourists who view, photograph, and study, them for variable periods of time. The escalating frequency of human-seabird contacts on heretofore undisturbed nesting islands raises questions and concerns about the effects of human disturbance, and of the continued preservation of nesting colonies of marine birds. We examined short-term changes in behaviour of Masked (Sula dactylagra), Redfooted (S. sula), and Blue-footed (S. nebouxii), boobies when tourists walked by, and examined display station and nest placement as a function of distance from a regularlytraversed tourist path on Tower (Genovesa), Hood (Espanola), and North Seymour, Islands, Galápagos.

Whether displaying boobies walked, flew, or remained on their station, when tourists passed, was related to their distance from the trail. Boobies displaying at stations on or up to 2 m from the trail, walked or flew from their station 62 to 95% of the time, depending on the species. All species of boobies performed more head and body turns, and gave-out more calls, after tourists passed than before, while the rate of preening did not differ. All three species of boobies avoided nesting right along the trail, despite similarities of habitat.

These data suggest that boobies respond to tourists in subtle ways often related to their species, and that further studies should delineate impacts operating over longer periods—including reproductive success variation as a function of disturbance.
Reflections on the Principles of Sustainable Agricultural Development
Authors: Otzen Uwe
Published: August 2009

Of the renewable resources of The Biosphere, agricultural land, including its water resources, is very high among the most important, because it is elemental for human and domestic-animal life. The stability and sustained fertility of the soil largely depend on both prevailing soil–climate conditions and on anthropogenic influences.

There are strict limits to the human interference which soil substrates, ground, soil, and surface water, flora, fauna, and microorganisms, can tolerate under moderate, let alone subtropical and tropical, soil–climate conditions. Economic, social, and aesthetic, yield of agricultural resources is limited even where economically and technically optimal use is made of capital and labour. A ‘maximum sustainable yield’ varies as a function of the soil–climate location, the established land-use system, and the technology applied, but only as long as this yield is not exceeded is the enduring availability of the resource ensured.

With the demand for land and energy to produce food and agricultural raw materials rising throughout the world, per caput food production continuing to fall (especially in Africa), and the cultivated area per caput declining worldwide, the urgent question for the long term is how to preserve the natural resources of water, soil, and vegetation cover, and how to arrest desertification, deforestation, salinization, soil degradation, and soil erosion.

These reflections centre on the call for farming systems which are suited to given locations and do no harm to the environment, and also for sustainability of agricultural production—two aspects which have been badly neglected in the past. The necessary simultaneous tasks of developing farming systems and preserving resources, can be tackled only in relation to specific locations and in a conducive development ‘climate’, where appropriate general conditions prevail. As a rule, the microeconomic development options for coping with these tasks can be improved only at a supra-farm and community level, and require new, environmentally oriented national agricultural and rural development policies.
Impoverishment, Population, and Environmental Degradation: The Case for Equity
Authors: Lonergan Stephen C.
Published: August 2009

The discussion above sought to clarify some of the key aspects of the relationships among impoverishment, population, and environmental degradation, and to pose a conceptual framework for addressing the issue. At various times, impoverishment has been identified: as a root cause of environmental degradation; as a proximate cause; and as a contributing factor, merely reinforcing the linkage between environmental degradation and poverty often caused by wealth and greed. Despite an abundance of recent literature on the topic, it is not clear how environmental degradation and impoverishment are linked. What is apparent is that the relationship amongst these elements is complex, multidimensional, conditional and, at present, indeterminate. Although much of the evidence linking impoverishment and environmental degradation is anecdotal, it appears that the key issue is one of equity. Considerations of international equity, national equity, and intergenerational equity, must form the cornerstone of any strategy to confront the joint issues of environmental degradation and impoverishment.

Promoting equity as a key principle or strategy, however, does not reduce the complexity of the issue; equity has an economic dimension, a political dimension, and a social dimension; numerous case-studies can be found to illustrate these dimensions, and a few are noted in our above discussion. This framework is also tied to the goal of sustainable livelihood security, which recognizes that security has both political and environmental components. Despite the complexity of these issues, it is still possible to develop general recommendations to be used as a guide to the design of intervention strategies by agencies providing development assistance. Accordingly, five such recommendations are noted last above.

The conceptual framework developed in this paper sought to extend the work on the impoverishment, population, and environment, issue begun by Leonard (1989), Holmberg (1991), and others. It is clear, however, that much more study of these complex interrelationships is needed before the linkages amongst them are well identified and understood. In addition, it is not enough to accept the importance of equity as a key principle of sustainable livelihood security; development agencies must be willing to act on this principle, and to design intervention strategies which aim at reducing and eliminating the inequities which are a major cause of environmental degradation.
Environmental Conservation and Sustainable Development Require a New Development Approach
Authors: Upreti Gopi
Published: August 2009

Designing appropriate policies and strategies that lead to environmental conservation (of biological diversity and natural ecosystems) and ecologically sustainable development, is not an option but a necessity. Nevertheless, it requires an appropriate developmental paradigm that can provide a more relevant perceptual and interpretive framework from which such strategies may emerge. The prevailing dominant social paradigm has ignored the following problems:the present level of resource consumption in the developed industrialized countries, the acute poverty and inequitable development pattern in the Third World, the massive capital flight from ‘global’ South to ‘global’ North, and the massive population growth-rates in poor Third World countries, for political or ideological reasons. This paradigm will ultimately lead to environmental destruction and collapse of The Biosphere if ‘business’ continues ‘as usual’.

There has been unwillingness on the part of the politicians to admit this truth, but the development philosophy that does not include the strategies which can induce changes in our consumption and behavioural patterns, attitudes towards Nature, environmentally sound conservation and management practices and principles, elimination of poverty and inequity, and reduction of global population growth, will achieve nothing more than, as Morowitz (1991) calls it, a ‘Sisyphus's Myth’.

Only a development paradigm that is deeply rooted in the principle of cooperation, social synergism, equity, and the understanding of ecological and social sustainability of resource uses, allocation, and management, can offer hope and engender optimism. The sooner humanity realizes and acts on this, the greater will be the chance for environmental conservation and the lesser will be the cost of human adaptation.
Environmental Management in Jordan: Problems and Recommendations
Authors: Abu-Taleb Maher F. , Salameh Elias
Published: August 2009

Jordan faces a wide variety of environmental problems, most of which are attributable to the inherent water supply–demand imbalance. This paper has examined the broad range of environmental problems experienced by Jordan, including local, regional, and global, environmental threats. Economic costs of ignoring environmental problems are presented, with examples showing how expensive and how complicated decontamination may be. The paper then discusses current policymaking to counter the existing problems and recommended that future decision-making mechanisms be flexible, robust, and timely enough to be able to cope effectively and rapidly with the evergrowing environmental problems.

In conclusion, the paper offers some suggestions for how the process of environmental policymaking may be improved and accelerated in order to cope with the wide range of environmental problems facing Jordan. The paper recommends that scientists and researchers become more involved in governmental decision-making, to be able to establish more technically-informed policies than hitherto. In addition, some type of concessional financing may be necessary from multilateral and bilateral lending organizations to assist in overcoming some of the more threatening environmental problems, such as water quality, and to provide economic impetus to a depressed economy.
Peninsular Malaysia's Protected Areas' Coverage, 1903–92: Creation, Rescission, Excision, and Intrusion
Authors: Aiken S. Robert
Published: August 2009

As in other former British colonies, the earliest protected areas in Peninsular Malaysia were game reserves. There were twenty protected areas at the end of the colonial period (1957), and twenty-five in 1992. The outstanding achievement of the colonial period was the creation of King George V National Park (now Taman Negara), but unfortunately too much reliance was subsequently placed upon it. Protected areas were established in economically undesirable or (formerly) remote areas, largely on anad hocbasis and mainly as a kind of ‘residual’ land-use. The protected areas have long suffered from rescissions, excisions, and encroachments, primarily for three reasons: because commercial interests have always prevailed; because of insecurity of land tenure; and because ordinary people have been denied a stake in such areas.

I estimate that the ‘effective’ protected-area coverage in 1992 was probably no greater than that of about AD 1940 (when, unlike the situation today, most of the Peninsula still remained forested). The Malaysian states have been reluctant to create new protected areas, and the federal government has been unwilling to invoke certain of its constitutional powers in order to acquire state lands for national parks. Consequently, proposals for additional protected areas have produced few results. Yet owing to the rapid pace of anthropogenic forest change, the Peninsula is running out of potential sites for new protected ares.

Reserved forests comprise virtually all of the Peninsula's remaining forest cover (seeFig. 1). Set aside mainly for productive and protective purposes, it is these forests, not the protected areas, that harbour most of the region's wildlife. This being the case, and keeping in mind that almost all of the wild species are forest-dwelling, it follows that wildlife conservation must come to rely more and more heavily on the reserved forests. Studies conducted by Johns (e.g.1983, 1986, 1987) at Sungai Tekam, Pahang, on the impact of logging on wildlife, reveal that most species can adapt to the altered conditions of logged forests; or, more precisely, that this appears to be the case following asinglelogging operation. But this topic, interesting and important as it is, takes us beyond the scope of this paper.

The matter of species adaptability, however, brings to mind a more general theme, which is the need to implement the principles of conservation everywhere, not just in specially protected areas. There is, in short,no effective alternative to rational land-use planning and to making conservation an integral part of all production processes.
Population, Desertification, and Migration
Authors: Westing Arthur H.
Published: August 2009

It is noted that the number of more or less permanently displaced persons throughout the world (now of the order of 1% of the total human population) continues to increase at a rate of approximately 3 millions per year; the situation in Africa is especially grave, with the number of displaced persons there (now of the order of 3% of the African population), continuing to increase at a rate of approximately 1.5 million per year. Human displacement — which can be seen to originate largely in rural areas — results primarily from one or more of three factors, namely escape from persecution, escape from military activities, or escape from inadequate means of subsistence. A number of examples from Africa are provided of the social and political consequences of human displacement, with emphasis on conflict situations at the sites of relocation.

It is further noted that the numbers of displaced persons continue to grow relentlessly despite there being no discernible rise in persecution or military activities, and despite the long-sustained ameliorative efforts and financial assistance by intergovernmental agencies and others.

It is accordingly suggested that the major cause of the continuing increase in the numbers of displaced persons is an ever-growing imbalance between population numbers and the human carrying capacity of the land. Population increases lead to smaller per caput natural resource bases, a predicament exacerbated by over-use — and thus degradation — of the land and its natural resources. In the arid and semi-arid regions of Africa, over-use of the land most often takes the form of overgrazing, leading to land degradation that is severe enough to be referred to as desertification. It is concluded that to achieve sustainable utilization of the land and its natural resources will necessitate the integrated attainment of environmental security and societal security — the latter inter alia requiring participatory governance, non-violent means of conflict resolution, and especially population controls.
An Attempt to Predict Which Amazonian Tree Species May be Threatened by Logging Activities
Authors: Martini Adriana M. Z. , Rosa Nelson de A. , Uhl Christopher
Published: August 2009

The impacts of logging on Amazonian ecosystems has been the focus of considerable attention both within and outside of Amazonia. However, the impacts of logging on individual timber species has not been at all adequately investigated. Logging affects timber species by: (1) removing mature individuals that are important sources of seeds; (2) damaging seedlings and saplings (i.e future generations of canopy adults); and (3) creating conditions that favour fire by opening the canopy and leaving slash as fuel on the forest floor.

In this study we summarize information on the ecological characteristics of 305 timber species in Brazilian Amazonia. We identify seven ecological parameters that are useful in evaluating a species' ability to resist the negative impacts of logging. These characteristics are: (1) effective long-distance dispersal ability; (2) abundance of saplings in forest regeneration; (3) rapid growth; (4) ability to resprout; (5) capacity to withstand fire; (6) broad geographic distribution; and (7) high density of adults. We hypothesize thai species with characteristics opposed to these parameters and subjected to intense logging pressure will have difficulty in maintaining their populations in logging regions.

We use a simple scoring system to rank species with regard to their hypothesized ability to withstand logging impacts. Among the species that are potentially susceptible to logging impacts are Euxylophora paraensis (‘Pau Amarelo’) and Swietenia macrophylla (American Mahogany). The sawn lumber from these two species goes principally to European and North American buyers, revealing a direct link between First World consumption and possible biodiversity impoverishment in the Brazilian rain-forest. These two species, and others that might experience population reductions as a result of logging, merit special study.
Ecological Problems in the Conservation of Plant Communities, with Special Reference to Central Europe
Authors: Medwecka-Kornaś Anna
Published: August 2009

Exclusion of human interference from national parks and nature reserves commonly results in undesirable successional changes in the vegetation. First of all the semi-natural plant communities, which have been formed and maintained by traditional methods of extensive land-use—mowing, grazing, burning, etc.—are affected. In Poland this has happened, for example, to the halophytic meadows on the Baltic coast, the secondary xerothermic (‘steppe’) grassland in the southern highlands, and the mesic hay-meadows of the forest zones in the Carpathian Mountains. When neither mown nor grazed, they all lose more and more of their typical components, and finally disappear. Many such communities originated hundreds or thousands of years ago and include a number of native plant species which cannot be found in any of the natural vegetation types.

The problems of conservation of semi-natural plant communities have been studied by the Author in three representative areas of Southern Poland: in the Gorce Mountains (Western Carpathians), the Niepolomice Forest, and the Ojców National Park near Cracow. In the Gorce Mountains about half the existing major plant communities belong to the semi-natural category and exhibit a much higher species-diversity than the natural forest vegetation (Table I). Similarly, in the northern part of the Niepolomice Forest, many more species are concentrated in the semi-natural, non-forest communities than in natural ones (Table II). For the Ojców area two maps, one of the actual vegetation and another of the expected or ‘potential natural’ vegetation, were compared and the topographic arrangement and successional trends of plant communities established (Table III). It became evident that, if all human impact were to be excluded from the Park, the rich semi-natural plant communities would completely disappear and many of their interesting components would become extinct at least locally.

These data, as well as similar observations reported by other authors, explicitly demonstrate that very often the existing vegetation diversity in national parks and nature reserves may be maintained only when the ecological situation has been rightly understood and the proper management adopted.
An Energy Budget for a Rainbow Trout Farm
Authors: Pitcher Tony J.
Published: August 2009

An industrial energy-budget for a Rainbow Trout farm shows that 93% of the energy costs of production are incurred in feeding the fish, seven-tenths of which is due to fishnieal incorporated in the food pellets. Only one-tenth of the input energy is converted into fish, but the energy subsidy of the farming operation compares favourably with conventional fishing and is 423 input megajoules per kg of output fish protein (55 MJ per kg wet-weight of fish landed). However, if the Trout could be fed on a diet composed of suitable vegetable protein, this performance would be improved to an overall conversion efficiency of one-third, and a subsidy of about 160 MJ per kg. A smaller but similar improvement could result if the Peruvian anchovy fishery regained its former production level.

As these improved energy-costs are comparable with those of crops of potatoes, and with those of bread and milk production, a 2-men Rainbow Trout farm yielding 25 tonnes per year on one hectare would become an attractive protein-producing enterprise in localities where the necessary water-supply is available.
The International Community and the Environment
Authors: Strong Maurice F.
Published: August 2009

It is a signal honour to have been asked to deliver this lecture to commemorate the outstanding contributions of Jean Baer and Julian Huxley to the cause of conservation. Both of these great men devoted their genius as scientists to helping us to broaden our perceptions of the human condition and their talents as leaders to establishing the institutions needed to safeguard and to improve the conditions of life on this planet. No two individuals did more to establish the foundations on which environmental conservation can now be seen and dealt with as a critical global issue.
Animal Life and Desertification
Authors: Cloudsley-Thompson John L.
Published: August 2009

Ecological interrelationships are far less complex in the desert biome than they are in grassland or forest but, even so, they are little understood. Some of the better known are described, but none of them is relevant to desertification. Harmful insects, such as locusts, grasshoppers, and termites, are unlikely to be responsible for extension of desert, except when they intensify environmental changes that have already been initiated by Man. Similarly, mammalian herbivores, even if protected and allowed to attain far greater population sizes than at present, are most unlikely to cause harm, as they are highly nomadic and always on the move.

These relationships hold true despite the fact that the natural predators of desert mammalian herbivores have largely been eliminated by human activities.
Optimal Policies for Conservation of Large Mammals, with Special Reference to Marine Ecosystems
Authors: Eberhardt L. Lee
Published: August 2009

Among the larger mammals, marine types offer some unique insights and problems for management. United States laws require that they be managed ‘to maintain the health and stability of the marine ecosystem.’ The relevant statute (Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972) requires maintenance of an ‘optimal sustainable population’, which is being interpreted as a range between the level giving a maximum sustainable yield (MSY) and asymptotic levels. Emerging evidence pertaining to marine mammals, and perhaps applicable to a larger class of vertebrates, indicates that the MSY point may be well above the logistic-curve 50% point.

‘Reproduction curves’ of various sorts are used in management as operational representations of population self-regulation (density-dependence). A variety of theories and hypotheses concerning such regulation now exists, though none is adequately supported as yet. A general model for self-regulation in long-lived species is suggested as being comprised of stages of regulation. Immature mortality is postulated as the first stage, followed by age of first reproduction and then reproductive rates of adult females. The fourth and last stage, as populations reach maximum sustainable levels, is assumed to involve changes in adult survival.

Although a model of the kind suggested here offers some useful insights as to harversting strategies, a more quantitative (functional) basis will be needed for actual management applications.
Conservation of Natural Vegetation in Nigeria
Authors: Ola-Adams Bunyamin A. , Iyamabo Dominic E.
Published: August 2009

The need to conserve representative samples of natural vegetation was recognized in Nigeria over thirty years ago. Before 1950 only two conservation areas had been laid down but at present there are seven in operation. Most of them are between 60 ha (ca 1/4 sq. mile) and 350 ha (ca 12/5 sq. miles) in area, and together they include at least one example of each major ecological type occurring in the country.

There are difficulties in constituting and safeguarding conservation areas, particularly outside State Forest Reserves. While it is to be hoped that legislation will soon be introduced to facilitate protection, a comprehensive survey has recently been carried out with a view to substantially increasing the number of conservation areas in Nigeria, and to make them more fully representative of the different vegetation zones of Nigeria.

Work is also proceeding towards determining the optimum size for each area within the different vegetation types. It is hoped to be able to establish up to 40 conservation areas within the next 2 years, and ultimately as many as 110 may be designated.
The Voss Project: A Model for Cooperation Between a University and a Local Community in Norway
Authors: Jonsson Bror , Kvammen Per Ivar , Matzow Dag , Nilssen Jens Petter , Østli Tor , Sandlund Odd Terje
Published: August 2009

A research project in freshwater ecology is described whose main intentions are: 1) to increase the contact between the University of Oslo and a local community; 2) to solve actual problems for the local community by prosecuting applied research without interfering with the researchers' demand for free choice of research items; and 3) to allow for a larger student population without increasing the supervisory staff (compatible with steadily falling grants).

The Voss Project is a cooperative project between the Zoological Institute of the University of Oslo and the Voss District Council, western Norway. It was initiated to analyse the Voss River system, which is threatened by eutrophication and water-power development.

The research is mainly carried out by Cand.Real. students, who live for 1–2 years in the local community. During the work, an intensive exchange of information about biological and social items, and about municipal politics, naturally takes place.
Shadow-prices for Non-renewable Resources
Authors: Helliwell D. R.
Published: August 2009

There are strong arguments for increasing the price which the consumer pays for the use of non-renewable resources. The fact that there are no exact means of determining appropriate prices should not deter society from moving nearer to this objective, particularly in cases where the price paid is likely to increase very steeply when easily-won resources become depleted.
The Attempted Clearance of Sargassum muticum from Britain
Authors: Gray P. W. G. , Jones E. B. Gareth
Published: August 2009

The Brown Alga Sargassum muticum, a native of Japan but also introduced into the Pacific waters of North America, was first found on the Isle of Wight off southern England in 1973, and has subsequently spread as far west as Plymouth. A large attached population is also present on the Channel coast of France. Marine biologists in England, fearful of its possible effect on indigenous marine organisms and recreational amenities, set up an eradication programme. This was largely unsuccessful, even though an estimated 450 tonnes of wet S. muticum were collected in one year (1976).

Some of the possible vectors of dispersal of this Alga are discussed, especially in relation to movement of oysters and shipping. It is thought that the spread of S. muticum will continue along the coast and that it may well extend deeper into the sublittoral than appears to be the case at present.

A research programme on the ecology and biology of S. muticum, as well as on possible means of control, is continuing.
Converting Industry to Environmental Impact Assessment
Authors: Elkington John B.
Published: August 2009

Successive inquiries into the problems associated with population, growth, resources, and environment, have stressed the need for new environmental management policies and techniques. Environmental impact assessment, whose evolution is briefly described in this paper, will be a vital ingredient in any transition to an environmentally sustainable world order.

There is a substantial and growing literature on the use of environmental impact assessment methods, although relatively little has been written on the increasing use of such methods by industry in some countries— often without any direct compulsion by Government. A range of examples of the industrial use of environmental impact assessment are reviewed, and the conclusion is drawn that properly designed methods can help industry to meet its own basic objectives of survival, profit, and growth.

While there are considerable problems associated with the prediction of ecological and other environmental effects, particularly where the baseline data are inadequate or non-existent, the experience of a growing number of companies and other industrial organizations does suggest that environmental impact assessment is increasingly recognized as an indispensable management tool in those industries which are likely to meet environmental resistance in their development planning operations.
The Role of Aquatic Weeds in Changing the Pattern of Ecosystems in Kerala
Authors: Thomas K. J.
Published: August 2009

A comparative study of the floristic composition of aquatic vegetation growing in certain ponds in parts of Kerala, and those recorded as growing in the same ponds more than 20 years ago, reveals changes that are often extreme. Thus many of the once-dominant species have either dwindled or disappeared. In some ponds, most of the components of the original flora of only a quarter-of-a-century ago have been completely replaced by thick mats of Salvinia over the past two decades. Salvinia multiplies vegetatively very rapidly (cf. Mitchell et al., 1980), forming mats on which secondary colonists grow. This commonly leads to a gradual filling of the pond. Besides, Salvinia infestations also cause considerable loss of water from water-bodies through increased evapotranspiration. If these ecological processes are allowed to continue, many of our water-bodies seem sure to dry up in due course.

A well-planned and systematic method of control, involving physical removal—either through manual labour or specially-designed machines—to be followed by biological control (for example by grazing vertebrates or invertebrates), would keep the explosive spread of the weed under check. The huge mass of harvested weed could be utilized for production of organic manure, cooking gas, or hard-boards, or could be dried as packing material. There should also be vigilance by a surveillance squad of experts in the scientific disciplines concerned, which would be effective in preventing further spread of the weed—much as is already being practised with good results for the hydroelectric reservoirs of Kerala.
Stream Pollution in Hong Kong—An Appraisal
Authors: Hodgkiss I. John
Published: August 2009

Many of the lowland streams of Hong Kong are grossly polluted, and most are polluted to some extent. This Situation has been allowed to develop, despite warnings to the Government as far back as 1968—mainly because, although legislation existed to control effluent discharges into streams, it was spread in at least fifteen different Ordinances and was seldom enforced. New legislation is now being enacted, but it is questionable whether or not this legislation will be any more effective than was the old.

In the short term, stream pollution is destined to become even worse than it is at present, and there are conflicting views as to the long-term prospects for Hong Kong streams. The optimistic foresee gradual improvement after an initial five-years' period of legislative machinery and Government expenditure. The less-optimistic foresee little relief in terms of industrial effluent discharges unless Government policy towards existing dischargers is changed, little relief also in terms of agricultural discharges unless drastic steps are taken to curb them or effectively treat their effluents, and merely a shifting of the problems of sewage discharges from the streams to the sea via partial treatment facilities.
Drought-accelerated Parasitism of Conifers in the Mountain Ranges of Northern California
Authors: Page James M.
Published: August 2009

Drought conditions in Northern California during 1975–77 caused widespread mortality in conifer forests mainly from attacks by disease organisms—including dwarf mistletoes and Fungi—and from epidemic outbreaks of various bark beetles. A federal survey has estimated the volume losses sustained through the affected four years (1975–79) as 9.6 thousand million board feet (45.3 million cubic metres) on 6.3 million acres (2.55 million ha) of national forest. As the dominant host species in afflicted forests is Pinus ponderosa, the most destructive agents have been the parasites of this species—primarily the Western Pine Beetle (Dendroctonus brevicomis) and the Western Dwarf Mistletoe (Arceuthobium campylopodum). However, interrelationships between many stress-inducing factors may be of more significance than the direct attack by any single parasitic species on a host.

Three approaches to the reduction of conifer losses have been studied. The first involves the use of silvicultural practices based on the elimination of susceptible, or high-risk, trees. This is most applicable in countering bark beetles which have the mobility and selectivity to reach potential hosts over large areas.

The second approach is direct control, or the physical removal or destruction of parasites. The steady spread of dwarf mistletoe, formerly contained by natural fire, can only be slowed through pruning, logging, or burning. Bark beetles can be directly controlled if the work is done before new broods hatch and mature. Toxic pesticides such as Lindane have proven ineffective—mainly for economic reasons, but also due to serious reservations among some foresters about detrimental effects on the forest ecosystem. Sex attractants have been used to draw bark beetles into trees of which the removal is planned.

The third approach, applicable to bark beetles, is biological control, or reliance on organisms—such as lizards, woodpeckers, predaceous beetles and their larvae, parasitic hymenopterans, and various Fungi, which in some cases the forester has options to encourage or discourage. At the very least these controls suppress bark beetle populations when normal precipitation patterns return.

Unfortunately, the ideal of a natural equilibrium being reached solely with the use of biological controls is unrealistic. The most fundamental stress on the commercial forests of California is human use, in spite of occasional drought-accelerated epidemic losses to parasites. Salvage must continue to be aggressively pushed upon a reluctant industry, but, above all, more flexible and immediate responses to the first signs of increasing bark-beetle activity, coupled with indirect, pre-epidemic silvicultural practices based on the broader lessons of forest parasitology, must be developed.
The Value of Natural Ecosystems: An Economic and Ecological Framework
Authors: Farnworth Edward G. , Tidrick Thomas H. , Jordan Carl F. , Smathers Webb M.
Published: August 2009

Ecosystem values, and the functional roles of ecosystems in providing goods and services for Man, have been subjects of increasing discussion and controversy among ecologists and economists in recent years. Economists have developed economic theory based on a market model, and price or value has been set in the marketplace. However, the market system cannot account for all possible values, and fails to account for goods and services for which no market, or only imperfect markets, exist.

These non-traded goods and services are termed nonmarket values, and are categorized in the scheme we have developed either as Value II (attributable or assignable values) or as Value III (intangible or non-assignable values). The true or total value of natural systems should include not only the market values (Value I) but also these two categories of non-market values whenever decisions are made about the alteration of natural systems. Usually, only market values are incorporated by decision-makers in the management strategies of natural systems, and as a result of their omission of non-market values, numerous natural systems are being degraded or destroyed through market-goods extraction.

The examples of market and non-market values of tropical moist forests, demonstrate the range of nonmarket goods and services provided by natural ecosystems. Excessive alteration and destruction of tropical forests for extraction of market goods, damages the integrity of the forests and reduces or destroys the capacity of these ecosystems to provide valuable non-market goods and services. One can measure the value of these non-market goods and services by calculating the cost of providing them through technology. By not accounting for the public goods provided by forests, overall sustained-yield potential of the public and private goods produced by the system is reduced. These non-market values need to be incorporated in decisions about the fate of natural systems.

An attempt has been made in this paper to establish a common understanding of value for both economists and ecologists. If the problems of value determination can be viewed with a joint understanding, the political process may be influenced to provide more efficient and wiser use of the products and services of natural systems.
Bukit Timah: the History and Significance of a Small Rain-forest Reserve
Authors: Corlett Richard T.
Published: August 2009

The 71 hectares mainly of rain-forest on Bukit Timah Hill have been isolated for more than 130 years. During most of this period, the forest has received some form of protection: initially for climatic reasons, then as a forest reserve, and finally as a Nature reserve. It has also suffered a great deal of disturbance from illegal logging, firewood collection, hunting, wartime shelling, and recreational activity. Despite this, the Reserve still supports an immensely rich flora and fauna, although many bird and mammal species have been lost.

The example of Bukit Timah suggests that, contrary to most predictions, small rain-forest reserves can play a significant role in biological conservation, as well as satisfying educational and recreational needs.
The Kirby Canyon Conservation Agreement: A Model for the Resolution of Land-use Conflicts Involving Threatened Invertebrates
Authors: Murphy Dennis D.
Published: August 2009

The Kirby Canyon Conservation Agreement was designed to provide protection of the Bay Checkerspot Butterfly (Euphydryas editha bayensis) while allowing development of an extensive solid-waste landfill in the habitat of that threatened subspecies. Elements of the programme include 1) biological research; 2) habitat acquisition; 3) habitat management; 4) restoration and revegetation activities; and 5) off-site recovery, including reintroduc-tion of the Butterfly into an unoccupied suitable habitat.

The high likelihood of success of this agreement reflects the availability of detailed life-history information, the known ecological characteristics of the Butterfly, and the geographic scale of the proposed development. This agreement should provide a useful model for the resolution of potential conflicts between endangered invertebrates and resource development in urban corridors elsewhere.