INVITED
SYMPOSIA PRESENTATIONS
S01 Conservation in a Warmer World: Great Lakes Ecosystems, Climate Change and the Need for New Approaches for Ecosystem Protection
S02 The Interface of Land-Use Planning and Biodiversity Protection
S03 Maintaining Connections for Nature: The Importance of Connectivity for Conservation
S04 Human Interaction with Aquatic Systems: How Knowledge of Aquatic Systems Impacts Individual and Institutional Action
S05 The Future of Conservation Biology in Austral and Neotropical America
S06 Values, Ecology and Management: Integrating Biodiversity and Great Lakes Fisheries Management
S07 Reversing the Paradigm: Science-Based Conservation Planning in the Boreal Forest
S08 Freshwater Biodiversity Conservation: Transitioning from Priorities to Action
S09 Protecting Moving Targets: Integrating Movement Ecology and Conservation Practice
S10 Coastal Wetland Vegetation as a Harbinger of Environmental Change
S11 Community Involvement in Crane and Ecosystem Conservation on Three Continents
S12 Comparing Marine and Terrestrial Ecosystems: Implications for Conservation Theory and Practice
S14 Conservation Planning for Wide-Ranging Species: Challenges and Strategies
S15 Marine Reserves: A Global Perspective
S01 Conservation in a Warmer World: Great
Lakes Ecosystems, Climate Change and the Need for New Approaches for Ecosystem
Protection
S01-01 MOSER, SUSANNE C. Global Environment Program, Union of Concerned Scientists, Two Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02238, USA (smoser@ucusa.org).
WHEN THE CLIMATE GETS TOUGH, WILL TOUGH SPECIES GET GOING? –
SOUND SCIENCE IN SUPPORT OF CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT
S01-02 MAGNUSON, JOHN J. Center for Limnology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 680 North Park Street, Madison, WI 53706, USA (jjmagnus@wisc.edu).
CONFRONTING CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION: PAST,
CURRENT AND FUTURE CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION
S01-03 JOHNSON, LUCINDA. Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota Duluth, 5013 Miller Trunk Highway, Duluth, MN 55811, USA (ljohnson@d.umn.edu).
CONFRONTING CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION: ECOLOGICAL VULNERABILITY TO CLIMATE CHANGE
S01-04 PRICE, JEFF. American Bird Conservancy, 6525 Gunpark Drive, Suite 370, PMD 146, Boulder, CO 80301, USA (jprice@mho.net).
CLIMATE CHANGE AND BIRDS IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION: IMPACTS, POTENTIAL SURPRISES AND THE NEED TO ADAPT MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
S01-01 MOSER, SUSANNE C. Global Environment Program, Union of Concerned Scientists, Two Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02238, USA (smoser@ucusa.org).
WHEN THE CLIMATE GETS TOUGH, WILL TOUGH SPECIES GET GOING? – SOUND SCIENCE IN SUPPORT OF CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT
A new report on the potential ecological impacts of climate change on the Great Lakes region, sponsored by the Ecological Society of America and the Union of Concerned Scientists, was released in April 2003. This report – Confronting Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region: Sustaining the Ecology and Well-Being of Our North American Heartland – is co-authored by prominent ecologists from the region and serves as the central vehicle of an extended outreach and education effort coordinated and carried out under the leadership of one of the nation's premier science-oriented environmental advocacy groups – UCS. Outreach is geared primarily toward state and local policy and decision-makers in the public and private sectors. It aims not only at raising awareness and understanding of climate change impacts on the region, but at helping natural resource and conservation managers to prepare for a changing climate. Building on past experiences and lessons learned in similar projects in other regions of the country, our model of local scientist/decision-maker interaction is proving highly effective. This symposium offers an opportunity to continue the mutual education and trust-building required for satisfying and useful interaction between researchers and ecosystem managers.
S01-02 MAGNUSON, JOHN J. Center for Limnology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 680 North Park Street, Madison, WI 53706, USA (jjmagnus@wisc.edu).
CONFRONTING CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION: PAST, CURRENT AND FUTURE CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION
Confronting climate change is a major issue in conservation biology. The region has been warming over the last 100 years and has been getting wetter while precipitation events have become more intense. Future climate scenarios for the region have been simulated using General Circulation Models driven by possible increases in greenhouse gases. These scenarios are available in the U.S. Global Research Program's Great Lakes Overview in 2000 and in the Ecological Society of America and Union of Concerned Scientists' Confronting Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region in 2003. By 2090 temperatures are simulated to increase by 2 to 8ºC in summer and 4 to 7ºC in winter. Simulations of changes in precipitation are highly variable in direction and amount. Changes in the frequency of intense rain events are expected to increase based on climate comparisons. Temperature driven increases in evapotranspiration are expected to reduce water availability during the century. Such changes in climate are large and would be important to the biota. Human adaptations to such large changes clearly should include strategies to manage greenhouse gas emissions and storage. This is necessary but not sufficient. Strategies are sorely needed for conservation plans and practice in our changing climate.
S01-03 JOHNSON, LUCINDA. Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota Duluth, 5013 Miller Trunk Highway, Duluth, MN 55811, USA (ljohnson@d.umn.edu).
CONFRONTING CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION: ECOLOGICAL VULNERABILITY TO CLIMATE CHANGE
The Great Lakes region encompasses boreal forests, prairies, hardwood forests, agricultural lands, thousands of lakes including the five Great Lakes themselves. This varied landscape is home to 60 million people, whose activities will strongly influence the impacts of global climate change. This talk will summarize the findings from an assessment of the potential ecological impacts of climate change on the region. Among the consequences expected from changing climate are: declines in winter ice duration with subsequent changes in temporal patterns of lake stratification; earlier spring flooding with consequent impacts on the timing and outcome of reproduction in fish, amphibians and birds; changes in the composition and, potentially, the productivity of forests; and increased length of growing season which will expand agriculture northward. Both negative and positive outcomes are expected. Warmer temperatures in winter will decrease heating costs, but allow pest species to expand northward. Lower water levels will decrease ship capacity, but will be offset by lengthened shipping season. The implications for conservation efforts will be complicated by the complex physiography of the region and presence of natural barriers to migration, such as the Great Lakes, and the ongoing human disturbances that result in landscape fragmentation and loss of habitat.
S01-04 PRICE, JEFF. American Bird Conservancy, 6525 Gunpark Drive, Suite 370, PMD 146, Boulder, CO 80301, USA (jprice@mho.net).
CLIMATE CHANGE AND BIRDS IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION: IMPACTS, POTENTIAL SURPRISES AND THE NEED TO ADAPT MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
The global average temperature has increased approximately 0.6ºC. The balance of evidence obtained from meta-analyses of published studies suggests that a significant impact from this amount of climatic warming is already discernible in the form of long-term, large-scale alteration of animal and plant populations. These changes include phenological events having advanced approximately 5 days per decade as well as some shifts in species ranges. Models of changes in breeding distributions of North American birds predict that most species will undergo some shift in their ranges. In parts of the Great Lakes region, this could lead to an avifauna with a net loss of up to 30% of the Neotropical migrants occurring there. Unless all components of an ecosystem change at the same rate, an unlikely prospect, this potential disruption of ecosystems could impact forest health. For example, a loss of insectivorous birds could lead to insect outbreaks of increased severity and frequency. This talk will provide an overview of the projected changes in avian biodiversity in the Great Lakes region, discuss some of the possible ecological impacts and what steps managers and conservation planners can take to try to adapt to some of these changes.
S02 The Interface of Land-use Planning and
Biodiversity Protection
S02-01 TREMBLE, DAVE. Sauk County Department of Planning and Zoning, 505 Broadway Street, Baraboo, WI 53913, USA (dtremble@co.sauk.wi.us).
LAND USE PLANNING THAT WORKS
S02-02 HUNTSINGER, LYNN. Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, 147 Hilgard Hall, MC#3110, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA (buckaroo@nature.berkeley.edu).
CONSERVATION EASEMENTS: UNIVERSAL AND UNIQUE
S02-03 HELTNE, PAUL. Center for Humans and Nature, 2430 North Cannon Drive, Chicago, IL 60614, USA (heltne@chias.org).
AN URBAN WILDERNESS: LAND-USE PLANNING AND BIODIVERSITY PROTECTION
S02-04 THEOBALD, DAVID, and N.T. Hobbs. Natural Resource Ecology Lab, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1499, USA (davet@nrel.colostate.edu).
EVALUATING LAND USE PLANNING ALTERNATIVES ON PRIVATE LANDS
S02-05 KLEMENS, MICHAEL W. Wildlife Conservation Society, Metropolitan Conservation Alliance, 68 Purchase Street, Rye, NY 10580, USA (mca@wcs.org).
ASSEMBLING THE PIECES: A BRICKS-AND-MORTAR APPROACH TO CONSERVATION
S02-01 TREMBLE, DAVE. Sauk County Department of Planning and Zoning, 505 Broadway Street, Baraboo, WI 53913, USA (dtremble@co.sauk.wi.us).
LAND USE PLANNING THAT WORKS
Planning has become an increasingly important function of local government, providing the legislative foundation needed to legitimize and support regulatory and alternative growth management strategies. Public participation in the identification of development and resource protection goals, creation of supporting policies and establishment of implementation programs is now a mandate of "Smart Growth" – styled planning legislation. Participatory planning processes, if well-designed and managed, afford a significant degree of constructive involvement for citizens at all levels of the society. Technical and scientific expertise among these citizen planners varies, especially in rural communities where natural resource conservation is a critical concern. Organizers are challenged to help identify effective roles for all participants and to ensure that each voice is heard. In this environment of democratic participation and local process control, how can conservation concerns and objectives be most effectively articulated and implemented? The "Land Use Planning that Works" segment relates the Sauk County, Wisconsin experience in creating and implementing plans that attempt to balance regional resource conservation objectives with local control of the planning process in a dynamic environment of state statutory planning requirements, unique resource conservation issues and opportunities, persistent apathy toward public service and vocal private property rights advocacy.
S02-02 HUNTSINGER, LYNN. Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, 147 Hilgard Hall, MC#3110, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA (buckaroo@nature.berkeley.edu).
CONSERVATION EASEMENTS: UNIVERSAL AND UNIQUE
Conservation easements, perpetual deed restrictions on land, are becoming a widely used conservation tool for groups and individuals who believe that traditional governmental acquisition and planning programs do not adequately protect extensive ranch, farm, and forest land. Easements commonly prohibit activities like development or conversion, and are purchased by or donated to a Land Trust. They are the financial recognition of public values in private lands. Because their sale or donation by the landowner is voluntary, they are relatively acceptable to ranch, farm, and forest communities. Each is unique, as can be expressed in a state-factor equation: CE (conservation easement characteristics)= f [ TC (trust characteristics and interest), WL (landowner willingness and characteristics), LT (land characteristics, context, and value), F (available funds) ]. The pattern of conservation easements on the landscape, and the character of each easement contract, is the result of these complex interactions. Meeting landscape-scale conservation goals is a challenging and creative process, and one whose outcome, to a certain extent, defies prediction. The more we know about each factor in the equation, and the associated uncertainties, the more we will be able to know about the outcome of conservation easement-based land conservation initiatives.
S02-03 HELTNE, PAUL. Center for Humans and Nature, 2430 North Cannon Drive, Chicago, IL 60614, USA (heltne@chias.org).
AN URBAN WILDERNESS: LAND-USE PLANNING AND BIODIVERSITY PROTECTION
Large metropolitan areas contain surprising amounts of biodiversity. The Chicago experience shows that the interstices between industrial enterprises and transportation corridors may provide large areas of relatively native floral communities. The Chicago Wilderness project is concerned with understanding, cataloguing, connecting, and protecting these patches. Restoration of interstitial landscape and forest preserves provides new challenges technically and politically. The history of Chicago's open space plans creates opportunity and limitations for conservation of biodiversity. Currently, three major planning efforts and several minor projects are underway; the volume of activity presents challenges to the citizen and to the professional in terms of participation and coordination. Yet the urban-wildlands interface provides crucial settings for the preservation of life other than human and deserves to be much more fully understood.
S02-04 THEOBALD, DAVID, and N.T. Hobbs. Natural Resource Ecology Lab, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1499, USA (davet@nrel.colostate.edu).
EVALUATING LAND USE PLANNING ALTERNATIVES ON PRIVATE LANDS
Typically, land use planning activities seek to identify high value areas for conserving biotic resources, particularly on private land that is developing rapidly. Although general conservation principles exist on how to set priorities, ambiguity remains about how best to integrate these principles into the planning process. We offer a general framework to incorporate conservation principles when evaluating how planning alternatives would affect important habitat. The framework contains four components: stakeholder involvement, spatial modeling of critical habitat and development patterns, analysis of alternative scenarios, and evaluation and monitoring. We will illustrate this framework using a case study from Summit County, Colorado, USA. Based on our indicators of the area of effected habitat and length of roads, careful development of lands through cluster design offers the lowest level of impact of the development scenarios identified.
S02-05 KLEMENS, MICHAEL W. Wildlife Conservation Society, Metropolitan Conservation Alliance, 68 Purchase Street, Rye, NY 10580, USA (mca@wcs.org).
ASSEMBLING THE PIECES: A BRICKS-AND-MORTAR APPROACH TO CONSERVATION
Over the last two decades, the emergence of conservation science has created a foundation upon which to make ecologically sound land use decisions. Yet, those closing decades of the 20th century also witnessed an unprecedented spasm of wasteful land and natural resource consumption. This dichotomy is symptomatic of the wide gulf separating conservation science from land use planning and development. Traditionally, conservation scientists channeled outreach efforts through NGOs, academia, and state or federal agencies. However, we have been slow to engage the entire suite of stakeholders defining any given land use decision, including local and regional planning agencies, local governments, chambers of commerce, economic development partnerships, farmers, and the 'smart growth' and 'new urbanist' movements. Viewing these stakeholder groups as 'bricks,' our program serves as 'mortar.' We provide information, services, technical backup and expertise, as well as facilitation and training, to join these bricks together. This alliance of interests recognizes conservation as a mainstream community goal, not the agenda of a narrowly focused special interest group. Once conservation has been thus mainstreamed, communities actively seek biological information to make better land use decisions. This bricks-and-mortar model has met with success in the tri-state New York metropolitan region, implementing large-scale conservation planning at local and regional levels.
S03 Maintaining Connections for Nature: The Importance of
Connectivity for Conservation
S03-01 CROOKS, KEVIN, Muttulingam Sanjayan, and Autumn-Lynn Harrison. Department of Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA (kcrooks@wisc.edu) (KC); The Nature Conservancy, 4245 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 100, Arlington, VA 22203 (MS, ALH).
THE IMPORTANCE OF CONNECTIVITY FOR CONSERVATION: INTRODUCTION TO THE SYMPOSIUM
S03-02 NOSS, REED. The Wildlands Project and Department of Biology, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816-2368, USA (rnoss@mail.ucf.edu).
CONNECTIVITY CONSIDERATIONS IN REGIONAL-SCALE CONSERVATION PLANNING
S03-03 PAQUET, PAUL C., Shelley M. Alexander, Chris T. Darimont, and Patti L. Swan. Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada (ppaquet@sasktel.net) (PCP); Department of Geography, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada (SMA, PLS); Department of Biology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8W 3N5, Canada (CTD).
THE INFLUENCE OF NATURAL LANDSCAPE FRAGMENTATION AND RESOURCE AVAILABILITY ON CONNECTIVITY AND DISTRIBUTION OF MARINE GRAY WOLF (CANIS LUPUS) POPULATIONS ON CENTRAL COAST, BC
S03-04 TRACEY, JEFF A., Jun Zhu, and Kevin Crooks. Department of Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 226 Russell Labs, 1630 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA (jatracey@.wisc.edu) (JT, KC); Department of Statistics, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1210 West Dayton Street, Madison, WI 53706, USA (JZ).
USING ANALYSIS AND MODELLING OF INDIVIDUAL-BASED PUMA AND BOBCAT MOVEMENT TO ASSESS LANDSCAPE CONNECTIVITY IN THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ECOREGION
S03-05 CARROLL, CARLOS. Klamath Center for Conservation Research, PO Box 104, Orleans, CA 95556, USA (carlos@sisqtel.net).
WHEN DOES CONNECTIVITY MATTER: INSIGHTS FROM SPATIALLY-EXPLICIT POPULATION MODELS
S03-06 FAGAN, WILLIAM. Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA (bfagan@glue.umd.edu).
QUANTIFYING CONNECTIVITY: EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIPS OF LANDSCAPE FRAGMENTATION TO EXTINCTION RISK, BIODIVERSITY, AND SPATIAL SCALE
S03-07 TALLEY, DREW M. Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA and University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA (dmtalley@ucdavis.edu).
HABITAT LINKAGES AT THE LAND-SEA INTERFACE
S03-08 NEVILLE ARSENAULT, HELEN, and Mary Peacock. Biological Resources Research Center/314, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA (hneville@unr.nevada.edu).
GENETIC ASSESSMENT OF POPULATION DYNAMICS AND CONNECTIVITY AT VARIOUS SPATIAL SCALES IN LAHONTAN CUTTHROAT TROUT (ONCORHYNCHUS CLARKI HENSHAWI)
S03-09 MILLS, L. SCOTT, and Reesa Yale Conrey. Wildlife Biology Program, School of Forestry, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA (smills@forestry.umt.edu).
DEMOGRAPHIC AND GENETIC MEASURES INDICATE EFFECT OF HIGHWAYS ON CONNECTIVITY
S03-10 Fonseca, Gustavo A.B., JAMES SANDERSON, Carlos Galindo-Leal, Keith Alger, Victor Hugo Inchausty, Karl Morrison, Thomas Brooks, Jose Maria Cardoso da Silva, Roberto B. Cavalcanti, Russell A. Mittermeier, and Anthony B. Rylands. Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, Conservation International, 1919 M Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20036, USA (j.sanderson@conservation.org) (GABF, JS, CGL, TB, ABR); Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG Brazil (GABF, ABR); Conservation International, 1919 M Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20036, USA (KA, KM, RAM); Conservation International – Bolivia, Calle Pinilla # 291, Esq. Av 6 de Agosto, La Paz, Bolivia (VHI); Conservation International – Brazil, Av. Getúlio Vargas, no. 1300, 7.o Andar – Belo Horizonte, MG Brazil (JMCS, RBC).
ESCAPING THE MINIMALIST TRAP: DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF LARGE-SCALE BIODIVERSITY CORRIDORS
S03-11 BEIER, PAUL, and Kristeen Penrod. School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA (paul.beier@nau.edu) (PB); South Coast Wildlands Project, POB 2493, Monrovia, CA 91016, USA (KP).
THE MISSING LINKAGES PROJECT AS A TEMPLATE FOR DESIGNING A WILDERNESS NETWORK
S03-12 FOREMAN, DAVE, Leanne Klyza Linck, and Robert E. Howard. The Wildlands Project, POB 13768, Albuquerque, NM 87192, USA (eltigredave@comcast.net) (DF); The Wildlands Project, POB 455, Richmond, VT 05477, USA (LKL); The Wildlands Project, 14 Reno Place, Santa Fe, NM 87508, USA (REH).
REWILDING NORTH AMERICA TO PRESERVE AN ENDURING RESOURCE OF WILDERNESS
S03-01 CROOKS, KEVIN, Muttulingam Sanjayan, and Autumn-Lynn Harrison. Department of Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA (kcrooks@wisc.edu) (KC); The Nature Conservancy, 4245 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 100, Arlington, VA 22203 (MS, ALH).
THE IMPORTANCE OF CONNECTIVITY FOR CONSERVATION: INTRODUCTION TO THE SYMPOSIUM
Fragmentation of the natural world is occurring at increasingly rapid rates, and with more permanence. Thus, it is not surprising that conservationists have long promoted the value of maintaining connectivity between natural areas. While the vision of a connected natural world is indeed compelling, implementation strategies for maintaining connections are challenging. Despite the many pitfalls and arguments for and against corridors, the fact remains that connecting landscapes is a major and growing part of conservation worldwide. This growing prominence is reflected in the diversity of talks within this symposium. The field of connectivity includes experimental approaches, modeling, and implementation while also covering terrestrial and aquatic systems at many scales. For an emerging field fast amassing a body of results, there has not previously been a useful framework to organize, evaluate and examine trade-offs for each of these efforts. Here, we will outline and propose such a framework while examining the major areas of conceptualization, research, and implementation relevant to connectivity. We will highlight the trade-offs and new areas of investigation that are yet to be tackled. As such, this symposium will guide but also challenge practitioners as to how best to apply existing knowledge to the task of maintaining connections for nature.
S03-02 NOSS, REED. The Wildlands Project and Department of Biology, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816-2368, USA (rnoss@mail.ucf.edu).
CONNECTIVITY CONSIDERATIONS IN REGIONAL-SCALE CONSERVATION PLANNING
Conservationists' interest in connectivity began with observations of animals (usually game species) moving along habitat corridors in human-modified landscapes. Later, under the influence of island biogeographic theory, concern broadened to consider extinction and colonization dynamics of multiple populations on habitat islands. Modern interest in metapopulations, including source and sink dynamics, is an extension of this line of inquiry. Today, conservation planning typically applies sophisticated site-selection algorithms to assure representation of all species, habitat types, and other features of interest in a network of conservation areas. Nevertheless, application of selection algorithms, by themselves, generally does not result in a network of sites that meets the needs of wide-ranging animals and permits operation of natural processes and adjustment of entire biota to climate change. A combination of site-selection algorithms, spatially-explicit population models for fragmentation-sensitive species, and expert judgment on reserve network design offers promise for achieving comprehensive, long-term conservation. With functional connectivity, a network of conservation areas can be a whole greater than the sum of its parts. I provide examples of applications of these concepts and methods to several regions of North America over the last two decades and offer suggestions for improving planning methodologies to achieve multiple goals.
S03-03 PAQUET, PAUL C., Shelley M. Alexander, Chris T. Darimont, and Patti L. Swan. Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada (ppaquet@sasktel.net) (PCP); Department of Geography, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada (SMA, PLS); Department of Biology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8W 3N5, Canada (CTD).
THE INFLUENCE OF NATURAL LANDSCAPE FRAGMENTATION AND RESOURCE AVAILABILITY ON CONNECTIVITY AND DISTRIBUTION OF MARINE GRAY WOLF (CANIS LUPUS) POPULATIONS ON CENTRAL COAST, BC
During summers 2000 and 2001, we surveyed 36 islands and 42 mainland watersheds on British Columbia's Central and North Pacific Coast for wolves. Ostensibly, this remote ocean archipelago comprises North America's most pristine wolf population. We observed wolf sign at all locations. The maximum distance between occupied landmasses was 14 km. We postulated that distances between landmasses, juxtaposition of landmasses, characteristics of ocean waterways, physiographic features, prey availability, other carnivores, and human disturbance influenced wolf presence. We used remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems to examine the relationship between wolf presence and land and seascape characteristics. Independent variables included island size and shape, perimeter-to-area ratio, distance to nearest island, mammalian species composition, average current speed, water temperature, vegetative heterogeneity, greenness, wetness, percent cover, topographic complexity, aspect (eastness, northness), slope, elevation, deer potential, salmon escapement rate, richness of salmon species, old-growth forest, distance to forest cutblocks, distance to earthquake epicenters, and distance to residential sites. We used logistic regression and information criteria to model resource selection, assess factors predictive of wolf presence, and evaluate connectivity of subpopulations. We then used the model to evaluate prevailing theories of island biogeography.
S03-04 TRACEY, JEFF A., Jun Zhu, and Kevin Crooks. Department of Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 226 Russell Labs, 1630 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA (jatracey@.wisc.edu) (JT, KC); Department of Statistics, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1210 West Dayton Street, Madison, WI 53706, USA (JZ).
USING ANALYSIS AND MODELLING OF INDIVIDUAL-BASED PUMA AND BOBCAT MOVEMENT TO ASSESS LANDSCAPE CONNECTIVITY IN THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ECOREGION
The southern California ecoregion has been severely impacted by urban and agricultural development, yet assessments of the functional connectivity of the present landscape and possible future landscapes in this region are lacking. These assessments would allow conservation organizations and resource agencies to take proactive steps to preserve habitat linkages in this fragmented system. Because connectivity is an interaction between landscapes and animal movement, models of movement on heterogeneous landscapes may be useful tools for connectivity assessments. We outline a research project focusing on the analysis and individual-based modeling of puma and bobcat movement on geographic information system representations of the southern California landscape. Pumas require large core areas of habitat, are particularly sensitive to fragmentation, and are therefore excellent indicators of connectivity at the ecoregion scale. Bobcats are less sensitive to fragmentation and are excellent indicators of connectivity at smaller spatial scales. We will develop new techniques to analyze movement data, use these techniques to analyze radio-telemetry data from pumas and bobcats, construct individual-based movement models based on the results of the analysis, and use these models to assess landscape connectivity in the southern California ecoregion. Our movement models will allow us to identify and design movement corridors for pumas, bobcats and other species, and help protect landscape connectivity in southern California.
S03-05 CARROLL, CARLOS. Klamath Center for Conservation Research, PO Box 104, Orleans, CA 95556, USA (carlos@sisqtel.net).
WHEN DOES CONNECTIVITY MATTER: INSIGHTS FROM SPATIALLY-EXPLICIT POPULATION MODELS
Conservation groups and agencies increasingly attempt to create regional reserve designs that move beyond a simple aggregation of important sites to produce a biologically functional network. However, conservation biologists have long debated whether resources devoted to corridors might be better spent on other goals. Because assessing the tradeoff between connectivity and other design goals is difficult without long-term field data on dispersal and demographics, this may be where mechanistic models are most useful. Spatially-explicit population models can help planners decide when to allocate resources towards protecting relatively secure core areas, to stemming the degradation of threatened buffer zones, or to restoring linkages that are already degraded but might contribute to long-term persistence of metapopulations. However, in some regions model results are too sensitive to uncertainty about processes such as dispersal to provide reliable insights. Examples from regional population viability analyses for carnivores in the Rocky Mountains, northern Mexico, and eastern Canada demonstrate that guidelines for the importance of connectivity, as well as the amount of protected area necessary to insure species viability, may be strongly context-specific. However, spatially-explicit population models often provide non-intuitive yet informative results that can help ensure the survival of wide-ranging species in increasingly human-dominated landscapes.
S03-06 FAGAN, WILLIAM. Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA (bfagan@glue.umd.edu).
QUANTIFYING CONNECTIVITY: EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIPS OF LANDSCAPE FRAGMENTATION TO EXTINCTION RISK, BIODIVERSITY, AND SPATIAL SCALE
Understanding the influences of habitat fragmentation on conservation efforts requires a concerted effort to clarify what we actually mean by "connectivity." Over the last few years, ecologists have begun using a variety of mathematical techniques to characterize how severely human activities have fragmented different landscapes. These include techniques from spatial statistics, graph theory, and biogeography. I will review these recent developments in our quantitative understanding of connectivity, and discuss the emerging relationships between connectivity metrics and key conservation topics such as extinction risk and biodiversity. The issue of spatial scale merits special attention in the context of connectivity conservation, and I will review the need for complementing scale-specific measures of connectivity with metrics that are scale-independent, especially when dealing with multispecies problems where species face different challenges within the same fragmented landscape. To keep the discussion firmly grounded in reality, biodiversity databases featuring aquatic and terrestrial species of significant conservation interest will be used to highlight these dependencies.
S03-07 TALLEY, DREW M. Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA and University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA (dmtalley@ucdavis.edu).
HABITAT LINKAGES AT THE LAND-SEA INTERFACE
Natural environments, even those traditionally considered "insular," are not isolated from the effects of often quite distant habitats. Habitats are functionally linked through a number of processes, broadly involving the movement of organisms or materials across boundaries. Cross-boundary linkages can be demographic (e.g., source-sink dynamics or metapopulations), physical (e.g., sedimentation), trophic (spatial subsidies), or some combination of these forms. These connections between habitats are ubiquitous at the marine/terrestrial interface, occurring across a vast range of temporal and spatial scales. Habitat connectivity at the land/sea interface commonly creates dominant effects on community structure and population dynamics that ramify through both ecosystems. Here we focus on the mechanisms and importance of connectivity at the marine/terrestrial boundary, and discuss the implications of these connections to both theoretical and conservation ecology.
S03-08 NEVILLE ARSENAULT, HELEN, and Mary Peacock. Biological Resources Research Center/314, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA (hneville@unr.nevada.edu).
GENETIC ASSESSMENT OF POPULATION DYNAMICS AND CONNECTIVITY AT VARIOUS SPATIAL SCALES IN LAHONTAN CUTTHROAT TROUT (ONCORHYNCHUS CLARKI HENSHAWI)
Salmonids represent a particular challenge in the study of connectivity. Homing behavior, coupled with infrequent dispersal, has engendered widespread application of the metapopulation concept to salmonids. However, the spatial scale at which metapopulation processes occur in salmonids is still unclear, and segregation of migratory and resident life history strategies across a landscape can create complex dispersal patterns that may not be predicted by current metapopulation models. Here we use microsatellite genetic markers to uncover how life history variation may affect dispersal patterns and potential metapopulation dynamics of Lahontan cutthroat trout within a watershed and at a landscape level. Results of FST, individual assignment, bottleneck and coalescent-based analyses reveal geographically segregated resident and migratory life histories within a watershed. Headwater resident populations were highly differentiated from other populations, while migratory populations from confluence reaches were less differentiated and maintained higher levels of genetic variability. These patterns varied in response to levels of connectivity and isolation within the watershed. Evidence of genetic bottlenecks suggests that extinction and recolonization may be occurring at this scale and play an important role in watershed-level persistence. Landscape-level analyses suggest that similar dynamics likely operated historically and enabled regional persistence of populations in large, diverse river systems.
S03-09 MILLS, L. SCOTT, and Reesa Yale Conrey. Wildlife Biology Program, School of Forestry, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA (smills@forestry.umt.edu).
DEMOGRAPHIC AND GENETIC MEASURES INDICATE EFFECT OF HIGHWAYS ON CONNECTIVITY
Although estimates of connectivity are fundamental to conservation, connectivity has been notoriously difficult to measure. Recent revolutions in mark-recapture and genetic analysis open up new possibilities for quantifying movement. We use a case study investigating the effects of highways on small mammals to show the benefits of combining demographic and genetic approaches. We established 4 trapping grids with equal spacing among grids on either side and parallel to highways, replicating the sampling over two summers for three 2-lane and two 4-lane highway sites in western Montana. Both genetic and mark-recapture data could be obtained for southern red-backed voles and deer mice. For red-backed voles, movement of marked animals across 2-lane highways was lower than parallel to highways (insufficient movements for 4-lane highways), but there was no detectable decrease in gene flow (Fst or assignment tests). For deer mice, both movement and gene flow was reduced at 4-lane but not 2-lane sites; the mark-recapture data also indicate that densities of deer mice are higher near the road. Only genetic data could be obtained for vagrant shrews; connectivity across highways was strongly reduced. Highways do appear to affect connectivity. An unresolved question is the level at which reduced connectivity becomes problematic.
S03-10 Fonseca, Gustavo A.B., JAMES SANDERSON, Carlos Galindo-Leal, Keith Alger, Victor Hugo Inchausty, Karl Morrison, Thomas Brooks, Jose Maria Cardoso da Silva, Roberto B. Cavalcanti, Russell A. Mittermeier, and Anthony B. Rylands. Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, Conservation International, 1919 M Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20036, USA (j.sanderson@conservation.org) (GABF, JS, CGL, TB, ABR); Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG Brazil (GABF, ABR); Conservation International, 1919 M Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20036, USA (KA, KM, RAM); Conservation International – Bolivia, Calle Pinilla # 291, Esq. Av 6 de Agosto, La Paz, Bolivia (VHI); Conservation International – Brazil, Av. Getúlio Vargas, no. 1300, 7.o Andar – Belo Horizonte, MG Brazil (JMCS, RBC).
ESCAPING THE MINIMALIST TRAP: DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF LARGE-SCALE BIODIVERSITY CORRIDORS
The still young discipline of conservation biology was founded based largely on questions about the minimum critical size of populations. The first generation science of conservation biology was thus minimalist in its approach to a widespread problem of biodiversity loss. However, global climate change and a rapidly evolving globalized economy have exposed added complexity to the conservation conundrum, leading to the realization that existing blueprints to avoid extinction are vastly insufficient. There needs to be a shift in the scale of action to ensure that all species are provided with sufficient habitat, functioning ecological processes, and protection from human pressures. A regional approach that reinforces the vital role of protected sites in avoiding foreseeable extinctions, while at the same time expands the scale of analysis and action beyond the boundaries of parks and reserves, will be vital for the long-term maintenance of biodiversity. Here we describe the general principles that define large-scale biodiversity corridors, and discuss challenges associated with their implementation. Biodiversity corridors should be based fundamentally on the presence of species and site scale conservation targets within them, overlaid with the connectivity and land-use patterns necessary to ensure not just the representation but also the persistence of biodiversity.
S03-11 BEIER, PAUL, and Kristeen Penrod. School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA (paul.beier@nau.edu) (PB); South Coast Wildlands Project, POB 2493, Monrovia, CA 91016, USA (KP).
THE MISSING LINKAGES PROJECT AS A TEMPLATE FOR DESIGNING A WILDERNESS NETWORK
In Fall 2001, the ground-breaking Missing Linkages report identified 232 wildlife linkages in California (http://www.calwild.org/resources/pubs/linkages/index.htm). South Coast Wildlands Project immediately spearheaded an effort to prioritize, protect, and restore linkages in the South Coast Ecoregion. We first forged a partnership with 15 federal and state agencies, conservation NGOs, universities, and county and transportation planning agencies. By partnering from the start (rather than developing a plan on our own and asking others to unite under us), we garnered spectacular support from all sectors and are making rapid progress. With our partners, we (1) prioritized 15 linkages (out of 69 linkages in the ecoregion) on the basis of irreplaceability (size and quality of core areas served) and vulnerability; (2) held a workshop to identify 12 to 20 focal species per linkage; (3) researched the needs of focal species, obtained high-resolution GIS data, and conducted field visits to develop a linkage design; and (4) presented the design at a second workshop (summer 2003) at which our partners volunteer to procure easements, acquire land, change zoning, restore habitat, or mitigate transportation projects. Our collaborative, science-based approach provides a template for creating a green infrastructure in even the most human-dominated landscapes.
S03-12 FOREMAN, DAVE, Leanne Klyza Linck, and Robert E. Howard. The Wildlands Project, POB 13768, Albuquerque, NM 87192, USA (eltigredave@comcast.net) (DF); The Wildlands Project, POB 455, Richmond, VT 05477, USA (LKL); The Wildlands Project, 14 Reno Place, Santa Fe, NM 87508, USA (REH).
REWILDING NORTH AMERICA TO PRESERVE AN ENDURING RESOURCE OF WILDERNESS
The Wildlands Project proposes to preserve an enduring resource of wilderness through rewilding North America. Without the top-down regulatory role of large carnivores, ecological integrity degrades. Wilderness needs wolves, big cats, and other large carnivores. Large carnivores need secure wilderness core habitats tied together by wildlife movement linkages. Four MegaLinkages are proposed to reconnect Wilderness Areas in North America for the free movement of wide-ranging species: Pacific, from Baja California to Alaska; Spine of Continent from Central America to Alaska through the Rocky Mountains; Appalachian, from the Everglades to New Brunswick; and Boreal-Arctic, from Alaska to Labrador.
S04 Human Interaction with Aquatic Systems: How Knowledge of
Aquatic Systems Impacts Individual and Institutional Action
S04-01 FULTON, DAVID, and Leigh Currie. Minnesota Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, University of Minnesota, 1980 Folwell Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA (dcf@fw.umn.edu).
UNDERSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ANGLER KNOWLEDGE AND ETHICS: PROMOTING USER ETHICS IN FISHERIES
S04-02 NERBONNE, JULIA FROST, and Kristen Nelson. Conservation Biology Graduate Program, University of Minnesota, 200 Hodson Hall, 1980 Folwell Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA (jaf@fw.umn.edu).
MOBILIZING RESOURCES FOR CONSERVATION: PROMOTING CITIZEN ACTION THROUGH STREAM MONITORING
S04-03 SENANAN, WANSUK. Department of Aquatic Sciences, Faculty of Science, Burapha University, Bangsaen, Conburi 20131, Thailand (wansuk@buu.ac.th).
ON-FARM MONITORING PROGRAM: A STEP TOWARDS AQUATIC CONSERVATION IN CENTRAL THAILAND
S04-04 KRAMER, DANIEL. Conservation Biology Graduate Program, University of Minnesota, 180 McNeal Hall, 1985 Buford Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA (kram0090@tc.umn.edu).
LAKE VIEWS: THE ECOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS OF INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE IN MINNESOTA LAKE ASSOCIATIONS
S04-05 MILLER, CHERYL. Consultant, 176 Wildwood Avenue, Birchwood, MN 55110, USA (camiller@umn.edu).
AFTER THE DELUGE: CONSERVATION AND FLOOD PROTECTION IN THE RED RIVER BASIN
S04-06 BLANN, KRISTEN. Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, University of Minnesota, 200 Hodson Hall, 1980 Folwell Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA (klb@fw.umn.edu).
SCIENCE, INSTITUTIONS, AND STAKEHOLDERS: LESSONS FROM IMPLEMENTATION OF ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT IN RIVER RESTORATION
S04-07 FISH, THOMAS, and Karen Mumford. Coastal Services Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2234 South Hobson Avenue, Charleston, SC 29405, USA (tom.fish@noaa.gov) (TF); Environmental Policy Program, Carl Vinson Institute of Government, 201 North Milledge Avenue, Athens, GA 30602, USA (KM).
INTERSECTIONS OF TECHNOLOGY, VALUES, AND KNOWLEDGE IN MANAGING AQUATIC SPECIES IN THE LAURENTIAN GREAT LAKES
S04-08 NEGA, TSEGAYE. Environment and Technology Studies Program, Carleton College, One North College Street, Northfield, MN 55057, USA (tnega@carleton.edu).
UNRAVELING THE TECHNOLOGICAL 'BLACK BOX': THE CONTRIBUTION OF SOCIOLOGY TO CONSERVATION BIOLOGISTS UNDERSTANDING OF TECHNOLOGY
S04-09 Kapuscinski, Anne R., and EMILY E. PULLINS. Institute for Social, Economic and Ecological Sustainability, University of Minnesota, 186 McNeal Hall, 1985 Buford Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA (ark@fw.umn.edu).
INTERNATIONAL GOVERNANCE OF THE BIOTECHNOLOGY-BIODIVERSITY INTERFACE: SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS AND SOCIAL DELIBERATION
S04-01 FULTON, DAVID, and Leigh Currie. Minnesota Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, University of Minnesota, 1980 Folwell Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA (dcf@fw.umn.edu).
UNDERSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ANGLER KNOWLEDGE AND ETHICS: PROMOTING USER ETHICS IN FISHERIES
During the past century, angling effort in the USA has dramatically increased as the human population has grown. Concurrent advances in technology have further increased the human pressure on recreational fisheries. As pressure on the resource has increased, some have advocated using an appeal to ethics to dissuade anglers from harming the resource or engaging in behaviors that disrupt others. In this study, a social psychological approach was used to identify beliefs about what defines ethical angling behaviors and who has responsibility for encouraging such behaviors. Among resident, non-resident, and resort owner populations in Minnesota, beliefs about appropriate angling ethics are quite similar. A core set of ethical behaviors was shared by >90% of respondents, including actions such as maintaining a clean environment, not wasting fishing, respecting the resource, respecting private property and other anglers, and following rules and regulations. Less crystallization on ethical appropriateness was apparent for actions such as catch-and-release fishing, sharing the resource among anglers, and the use of new technology. Beliefs about ethics varied by respondents' motivations for fishing. Most believed responsibility for promoting ethics was more the responsibility of individuals and sporting groups than the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources or the state legislature.
S04-02 NERBONNE, JULIA FROST, and Kristen Nelson. Conservation Biology Graduate Program, University of Minnesota, 200 Hodson Hall, 1980 Folwell Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA (jaf@fw.umn.edu).
MOBILIZING RESOURCES FOR CONSERVATION: PROMOTING CITIZEN ACTION THROUGH STREAM MONITORING
Conservation biologists have long recognized that to protect natural systems we need both knowledge and the capacity for action. We must invest resources in collecting data as well as in promoting direct change in how people relate to ecosystems. During the last decade citizens have been gathering to protect local streams by investigating aquatic life through a process called Volunteer Macroinvertebrate Monitoring (VMM). Is VMM accomplishing the goal of linking knowledge to action? We conducted a national survey of VMM groups and learned that while most VMM groups hope to produce valuable data about local streams, their primary goal is to promote public awareness of water quality. Our results illustrate that there is a range of different data quality standards among VMM groups. Using linear regression we show that citizen data quality relates to action only when the impact of financial resources is used as a weighting variable. We conclude by examining the relationship between resources utilized for knowledge generation, and those used to promote protective action. We suggest ways that citizen groups can balance their investment between collecting quality data and promoting direct change on behalf local ecosystems.
S04-03 SENANAN, WANSUK. Department of Aquatic Sciences, Faculty of Science, Burapha University, Bangsaen, Conburi 20131, Thailand (wansuk@buu.ac.th).
ON-FARM MONITORING PROGRAM: A STEP TOWARDS AQUATIC CONSERVATION IN CENTRAL THAILAND
Conservation of aquatic resources in heavily utilized areas, such as the Chao Phraya River basin of Central Thailand, has been challenging due to diverse land uses. The catfish aquaculture sector has strong interests in protecting the surrounding aquatic environment because critical inputs, such as fresh water and broodstocks, are dependent on healthy ecosystems. A team of researchers and fish farmers initiated an on-farm monitoring project to evaluate impacts of genetic quality of broodstock on growth of offspring and to engage farmers in systematic data collection. This program incorporated farmers' knowledge about fish biology and researchers' expertise on conservation genetics. Preliminary genetic data indicate different levels of genetic diversity in various broodstocks (average H at 3 loci = 0.75, 0.53 for central and southern populations, respectively) and potential effects of the differences on the quality of offspring. Preliminary interviews of farmers involved in this project suggest that they are concerned about natural fish populations, but feel that their possible conservation actions are limited. This monitoring program could serve as a foundation for an environmental monitoring program at a larger scale. Work in progress includes further genetic analyses and the evaluation of farmers' attitude towards aquatic conservation after participating in this project.
S04-04 KRAMER, DANIEL. Conservation Biology Graduate Program, University of Minnesota, 180 McNeal Hall, 1985 Buford Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA (kram0090@tc.umn.edu).
LAKE VIEWS: THE ECOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS OF INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE IN MINNESOTA LAKE ASSOCIATIONS
Common property resource problems are typically addressed in one of three ways: regulation, privatization, and voluntary collective action. Many recent studies have shown that collective action institutions are more effective than theory suggests. In Minnesota, lakes are primarily managed by state and local government. However, over six hundred lakes are jointly managed and monitored by local lake associations – essentially homeowner associations voluntarily organized around their respective lakes. Little is known about these lake associations. I surveyed all known lake associations in Minnesota in order to learn more about their lakes, institutional structure, activities, and members. I found that lake associations are organized primarily to promote environmental stewardship. Lake associations, however, vary widely in their institutional structure and character. I propose that institutional variability can be at least partially explained by the ecological context of lake associations and their lakes. I used survey data as well as ecological and social data in multivariate regressions and found that ecological context may help explain institutional variability among lake associations. Understanding the relationships between human institutions and ecological systems is useful to policy makers when deciding how to best address common property resource problems in complex and variable environments.
S04-05 MILLER, CHERYL. Consultant, 176 Wildwood Avenue, Birchwood, MN 55110, USA (camiller@umn.edu).
AFTER THE DELUGE: CONSERVATION AND FLOOD PROTECTION IN THE RED RIVER BASIN
In the past decade, flooding has devastated many communities and farms in the Red River Basin, a prime-wheat growing region in the North Central United States. Floods and other large-scale environmental crises often precipitate a crisis in government as well, as conflicts increase among diverse stakeholders and pressures on various government institutions grow. In the Red River Basin, the conflicts among these stakeholders – up-streamers versus down-streamers, conservationists versus drainage interests, government agencies internally and among themselves – led to a formal mediation process which, when concluded, fundamentally overhauled the goals, policies, and organizational processes of existing institutions. The Red River Flood Damage Reduction Agreement established a fifteen-year, $250 million collaborative process among government and private groups, set ambitious flood protection and conservation goals, established stakeholder teams to design and implement projects, and called for new watershed plans to integrate flood reduction and conservation priorities such as buffering natural areas and waterways, restoring prairie and wetland ecosystems, and re-establishing more natural stream characteristics. Keys to the success of this Agreement are shared access to technical and scientific information about flooding and natural resources and stakeholder willingness to consider alternative approaches to reaching agreed-upon goals.
S04-06 BLANN, KRISTEN. Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, University of Minnesota, 200 Hodson Hall, 1980 Folwell Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA (klb@fw.umn.edu).
SCIENCE, INSTITUTIONS, AND STAKEHOLDERS: LESSONS FROM IMPLEMENTATION OF ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT IN RIVER RESTORATION
Although the concept of adaptive management has been around for over two decades, unqualified successes in implementing adaptive management have been few, particularly in aquatic ecosystems where the complexity of interactions and the range of spatial and temporal scales that must be addressed for effective conservation is large. Significant barriers often materialize as part of controversial ecosystem restoration efforts. Agency cultures, narrowly defined missions, fear of lawsuits, legal constraints, and unequally distributed political and personal risk all serve to mitigate against implementation. It may often be infeasible to implement adaptive management without simultaneously attending to the institutional, organizational, and political context of resource management. Lessons are presented from workshops with scholars and practitioners involved in restoration efforts in the Red River, Kissimmee River, Everglades, Colorado River, and the Upper Mississippi. Strategies for overcoming barriers include reorganizing institutional arrangements to support linked decision-making, expanding informal communication, and developing shared understanding among the wider community, both of ecosystem function and social values. Broadening the base of input for identifying uncertainties, problem scoping, evaluation, and decision-making also plays a key role in redefining relationships, building a constituency to weather challenges, and allowing for creative alternatives to be identified and pursued.
S04-07 FISH, THOMAS, and Karen Mumford. Coastal Services Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2234 South Hobson Avenue, Charleston, SC 29405, USA (tom.fish@noaa.gov) (TF); Environmental Policy Program, Carl Vinson Institute of Government, 201 North Milledge Avenue, Athens, GA 30602, USA (KM).
INTERSECTIONS OF TECHNOLOGY, VALUES, AND KNOWLEDGE IN MANAGING AQUATIC SPECIES IN THE LAURENTIAN GREAT LAKES
Loss of aquatic native species and the introduction and proliferation of non-native aquatic species have had widespread ecological and economic impacts throughout the Laurentian Great Lakes. Projected increases in ship-borne commerce, residential development, and aquatic recreation over the next 20 years may increase the likelihood of declines in native populations and invasions by non-native species. We conducted a qualitative content analysis of management documents from a sample of state, provincial, tribal, federal, and bi-national management entities as well as stakeholder groups within the Lake Superior basin to assess the technological and non-technological approaches supported or employed by these groups to protect native species and to control non-native species. After developing an inventory of strategies, we examined the relationship of the approaches adopted by these groups with the goals, values, and knowledge statements expressed within their documents. We then assessed the ways values and knowledge systems correlated with the selection of measures to control non-natives or sustain native species. Despite a web of individual and coordinated efforts, we identify institutional and management gaps and present insights for strengthening the capacity of agencies and stakeholders to implement broad approaches for managing aquatic species in the Great Lakes.
S04-08 NEGA, TSEGAYE. Environment and Technology Studies Program, Carleton College, One North College Street, Northfield, MN 55057, USA (tnega@carleton.edu).
UNRAVELING THE TECHNOLOGICAL 'BLACK BOX': THE CONTRIBUTION OF SOCIOLOGY TO CONSERVATION BIOLOGISTS UNDERSTANDING OF TECHNOLOGY
As conservation biologists we usually think of our object of study as 'nature', but we are everywhere preoccupied with technologies. But do we have a coherent understanding of what a technology is, how technologies come into existence, or the relation between technology, society, and the environment? Prevalent approaches in studying technologies have mainly focused on showing the impact of technologies on the environment or in conducting Environmental Impact Assessments, leaving the technology itself and its design as a 'black box'. As a result, much of the discussion on the subject matter has not moved beyond blaming the hardware, the manufacturers, the economic system, or abstractions like 'politics'. It is argued that in order to go beyond finding a scapegoat, it is necessary to undertake a sociological enquiry into the technical content, inner workings, and design of technologies (i.e., their genesis and stabilization). For only then we can understand why technologies do not necessarily have to be the way they are, that they might work better, and they might be environmentally friendly. This is shown by exploring a particular case study-that of the reconstruction of the Nett Lake dam at Bois Forte Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota.
S04-09 Kapuscinski, Anne R., and EMILY E. PULLINS. Institute for Social, Economic and Ecological Sustainability, University of Minnesota, 186 McNeal Hall, 1985 Buford Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA (ark@fw.umn.edu).
INTERNATIONAL GOVERNANCE OF THE BIOTECHNOLOGY-BIODIVERSITY INTERFACE: SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS AND SOCIAL DELIBERATION
Internationally, biotechnologists are developing marine genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that express a diversity of traits, from faster growth to production of pharmaceuticals, in fish, shellfish and algae. Developers are preparing and governments are reviewing applications for commercial production of marine GMOs in or near natural waters. International institutions dedicated to conservation missions (e.g. Convention on Biological Diversity, Global Environment Facility) play prominent roles in shaping regulatory approaches for these and other biotechnology products. This presentation will discuss three recommendations for increased participation by conservation biologists in addressing GMO-related conservation issues. First, research contributions by conservation biologists are of increasing importance, exemplified by research on the likelihood and biodiversity consequences of gene flow from transgenic fish to wild and feral relatives. Second, conservation biologists can affect decision making through policy analysis, as occurred when analysis of U.S. policy revealed important gaps and secrecy in regulation of proposed commercial releases of transgenic fish, with implications for both ecosystems and humans. Third, innovative policy and scientific linkages inspired by the interdisciplinary orientation of conservation biology are needed; this is illustrated by the Safety First Initiative's deliberations on development of publicly reliable, scientific standards to minimize potential harm of marine GMOs to marine biodiversity.
S05 The Future of Conservation Biology in Austral and Neotropical
America
S05-01 Rodríguez, Jon Paul, JAVIER A. SIMONETTI, Martín Acosta, Lorena Calvo, Miguel Ângelo Marini, Cristian Olivo, Andrea C. Premoli, Arturo Sánchez-Azofeifa, and Miguel A. Vázquez. Centro de Ecología, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Apdo. 21827, Caracas 1020-A, Venezuela (JPR); Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile (jsimonet@uchile.cl) (JAS); Facultad de Biología, Universidad de la Habana, Calle 25 No. 455 entre J e I, Vedado, Ciudad Habana, Cuba (MA); Centro para Conservación de Biodiversidad de Guatemala, Distrito Cultural 4 Norte, Ruta 1 4-72 zona 4, Guatemala Ciudad, Guatemala (LC); Departamento de Zoologia, IB, Universidade de Brasilia, Brasilia, DF, 70910-900, Brazil (MAM); Casilla 13794, La Paz, Bolivia (CO); Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Quintral 1250, 8400 Bariloche, Argentina (ACP); Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E3, Canada (ASA); Borgeois N34-275 y Teresa de Cepeda, Quito, 0 17-12-257, Ecuador (MAV).
THREE YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN FOR THE AUSTRAL AND NEOTROPICAL AMERICA (ANA) SECTION OF THE SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY (2003-2005)
S05-02 MARINI, MIGUEL. Departamento de Zoologia, IB,
Universidade de Brasilia, Brasilia, DF, 70910-900, Brazil (marini@unb.br).
EDUCATION IN CONSERVATION BIOLOGY IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
S05-03 OLIVO, CRISTIAN. Board Director ANA-SCB, Casilla 13794, La Paz, Bolivia (olivocris@yahoo.it).
SCIENTIFIC PRODUCTIVITY IN CONSERVATION BIOLOGY IN AUSTRAL AND NEOTROPICAL AMERICA
S05-04 VALES, MIGUEL A., and Daysi Vilamajo. Agency of Prioritized Programs and Projects (GEPROP), Ministry of Sciences Technology and Environment, La Habana, Cuba (valvil@infomed.sld.cu or vales@geprop.cu ) (MAV); Institute of Ecology and Systematic, Environment Agency, Ministry of Sciences Technology and Environment, La Habana, Cuba (DV).
ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE CUBAN NATIONAL CONSERVATION STRATEGY
S05-01 Rodríguez, Jon Paul, JAVIER A. SIMONETTI, Martín Acosta, Lorena Calvo, Miguel Ângelo Marini, Cristian Olivo, Andrea C. Premoli, Arturo Sánchez-Azofeifa, and Miguel A. Vázquez. Centro de Ecología, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Apdo. 21827, Caracas 1020-A, Venezuela (JPR); Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile (jsimonet@uchile.cl) (JAS); Facultad de Biología, Universidad de la Habana, Calle 25 No. 455 entre J e I, Vedado, Ciudad Habana, Cuba (MA); Centro para Conservación de Biodiversidad de Guatemala, Distrito Cultural 4 Norte, Ruta 1 4-72 zona 4, Guatemala Ciudad, Guatemala (LC); Departamento de Zoologia, IB, Universidade de Brasilia, Brasilia, DF, 70910-900, Brazil (MAM); Casilla 13794, La Paz, Bolivia (CO); Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Quintral 1250, 8400 Bariloche, Argentina (ACP); Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E3, Canada (ASA); Borgeois N34-275 y Teresa de Cepeda, Quito, 0 17-12-257, Ecuador (MAV).
THREE YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN FOR THE AUSTRAL AND NEOTROPICAL AMERICA (ANA) SECTION OF THE SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY (2003-2005)
Austral and Neotropical America (ANA) houses an enormous share of the world's biodiversity. Not only does it rank highest in number of species for many groups of animals and plants, but it has contributed greatly to the well being of people around the world: potatoes, tomatoes, corn, and chocolate, are just a few of the New World ingredients commonly found on tables in every corner of the planet. In contrast, the region needs to build up the human and financial resources necessary to tackle the conservation of such biological wealth. The ultimate purpose of the ANA Section is to strengthen the discipline of conservation biology. We propose that we focus our efforts on: 1) informing the regional conservation community about the activities of the SCB and the ANA Section, 2) increasing regional capacity building opportunities, and 3) facilitating access to scientific information. Among the specific targets that we aim to meet are: 1) deliver ANA Section "promotional" presentations in at least 6 scientific conferences per year, 2) offer at least three short courses per year, and 3) place at least 40-50 free subscriptions to Conservation Biology in key institutions throughout the region. To fulfill our plan we require about US$20,000 per year.
S05-02 MARINI, MIGUEL. Departamento de Zoologia, IB,
Universidade de Brasilia, Brasilia, DF, 70910-900, Brazil (marini@unb.br).
EDUCATION IN CONSERVATION BIOLOGY IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
As one of the objectives of the ANA-Section of the SCB, I conducted a survey among Latin America and Caribbean universities to gather baseline data on current status of education in conservation biology. A preliminary survey among 47 universities from 12 countries has yielded the following results. Of the schools represented 72% teach at least one course in conservation biology, 79% of which require prerequisites, 76% have field classes, but only four had a degree in conservation biology. Based on the most important concepts taught, a mean course in the region teaches: 1) General aspects of conservation biology, 2) Biodiversity, 3) Fragmentation, island biogeography and metapopulations, 4) Concepts in ecology and evolution, 5) Extinction, 6) Threats and human impacts, 7) Sustainable development and use of biodiversity, and 8) Management and solutions. A more detailed course would include: 9) Genetics, 10) PVA, 11) Landscape ecology, 12) Field techniques, and 13) Emphasis on regional aspects or other specific topics. Most courses were taught through theoretical classes, field practices and readings of scientific papers. Other important methods include discussion and debates and oral presentations by the students. Courses varied considerably in topics covered but had similar teaching methods. The final results of this survey will help future education policies through Latin America and the Caribbean.
S05-03 OLIVO, CRISTIAN. Board Director ANA-SCB, Casilla 13794, La Paz, Bolivia (olivocris@yahoo.it).
SCIENTIFIC PRODUCTIVITY IN CONSERVATION BIOLOGY IN AUSTRAL AND NEOTROPICAL AMERICA
A preliminary search on scientific productivity on conservation biology in the countries of the Austral and Neotropical America is being carried out. The purpose of such an inquiry, is to have an approximate indicator about which is the actual degree of scientific productivity in the region, to know the scientific contribution per country. So far information was gathered for 16 countries to date. This information showed that only 5 countries have at least one international journal on conservation biology or that includes it. Also there are no national or international published journals on conservation biology in 8 countries, and there are three countries that have only national-published journals on conservation biology or that includes it. In these countries only 34% of the scientific productivity on conservation biology is published in international journals, 33% is published in local journals, and 33% is never published, and remain mainly as local institutional or NGO's scientific reports. This results suggest that the scientific productivity on conservation biology in the countries of the Austral and Neotropical America is much higher than normally is thought. But pitifully in many countries, there is not an appropriate divulgence of the scientific knowledge, and many scientific articles are published in local magazines that are not easily accessible in other countries.
S05-04 VALES, MIGUEL A., and Daysi Vilamajo. Agency of Prioritized Programs and Projects (GEPROP), Ministry of Sciences Technology and Environment, La Habana, Cuba (valvil@infomed.sld.cu or vales@geprop.cu ) (MAV); Institute of Ecology and Systematic, Environment Agency, Ministry of Sciences Technology and Environment, La Habana, Cuba (DV).
ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE CUBAN NATIONAL CONSERVATION STRATEGY
During the national Biodiversity survey performed 1996-1997 and printed in 1998 were characterized 42 types of ecosystems and 23 high and medium level landscapes types; 51.4% of the 6500 species of vascular plants are endemics and more than 19600 species of animals were known with an endemism of about 50%. In this study were identified not only the threats and services but also the main lines of biodiversity to take into account for the development of the National Conservation Strategy, such as: 1) increase the studies on biodiversity at different levels, 2) assessment of the efficiency of the Protected Areas National System, 3) ecosystems restoration, 4) traditional knowledge, 5) management of the spatial an no spatial information, 6) environmental planning, 7) monitoring of biodiversity at species and ecosystems levels, 8) review of the environmental laws, and 9) communitarian participation. Cuban National Strategy developed considering the criteria of the different region and social interests of the country states that "the objectives of sustainable use and conservation of biological diversity ... should be integrating to territorial and sectorial policies ..." and establish 11 goals, 56 objectives and 134 actions, of which about 50% are today in the implementation phase.
S06 Values, Ecology and Management: Integrating Biodiversity
and Great Lakes Fisheries Management
S06-01 CROWDER, LARRY B. Duke University Marine Laboratory, Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, 135 Duke Marine Lab Road, Beaufort, NC 28516-9721, USA (lcrowder@duke.edu).
IMPLICATIONS OF BIODIVERSITY LOSS IN AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS: A SOMEWHAT SALTY PERSPECTIVE ON THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY AND FISHERIES IN THE GREAT LAKES
S06-02 EBY, LISA, Karen Mumford, Larry Crowder, J. Baird Callicott, E.J. Crossman, and Becky Cudmore. Wildlife Biology Program, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA (leby@forestry.umt.edu) (LE); Environmental Policy Program, Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia, 201 North Milledge Avenue, Athens, GA 30602, USA (KM); Duke University Marine Laboratory, Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, 135 Duke Marine Lab Road, Beaufort, NC 28516-9721, USA (LC); Department of Philosophy, Institute of Applied Sciences, University of North Texas, PO BOX 310920, Denton, TX 76205-0920, USA (JBC); Royal Ontario Museum, Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Biology and University of Toronto, 100 Queens's Park, Toronto, ON M5S 2C6, Canada (EJC, BC).
INCORPORATING BIODIVERSITY OBJECTIVES INTO FISHERIES MANAGEMENT: LESSONS FROM WORKSHOPS
S06-03 BRISTER, DEBORAH. Institute for Social, Economic and Ecological Sustainability, University of Minnesota, 186 McNeal Hall, 1985 Buford Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108-6142, USA (djb@fw.umn.edu).
AQUACULTURE IN THE GREAT LAKES: CONSERVING BIODIVERSITY USING THE ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT TOOL FOR AQUACULTURE IN THE GREAT LAKES BASIN
S06-04 LODGE, DAVID, David Finnoff, Cindy Kolar, Gary Lamberti, Brian Leung, Mark Lewis, Hugh MacIsaac, and Jason Shogren. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA (lodge.1@nd.edu) (DL, GL, BL); Department of Economics, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816-1400, USA (DF); UMEC-USGS, 2630 Fanta Reed Road, La Crosse, WI 54603, USA (CK); Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2G1, Canada (ML); Biology Department, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON N98 3P4, Canada (HM); Department of Economics and Finance, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071-3985, USA (JS).
INCORPORATING ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC VALUES IN RISK ANALYSES OF NONINDIGENOUS SPECIES IN THE GREAT LAKES
S06-05 MUMFORD, KAREN. Environmental Policy Program, Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia, 201 North Milledge Avenue, Athens, GA 30602, USA (mumford@cviog.uga.edu).
GOVERNANCE CAPACITY FOR MANAGING NATIVE AND NON-NATIVE FISH SPECIES ON LAKE MICHIGAN
S06-06 SPANGLER, GEORGE R. Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, University of Minnesota, 1980 Folwell Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108-6124, USA (GRS@finsandfur.fw.umn.edu).
SOVEREIGNTY: POLITICAL AND BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY IN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
S06-07 DEPHILIP, MICHELE M. The Nature Conservancy, Great Lakes Program, 8 South Michigan Avenue, Suite 2301, Chicago, IL 60603, USA (mdephilip@tnc.org).
DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A FRESHWATER CONSERVATION BLUEPRINT FOR THE GREAT LAKES REGION
S06-08 MARANGELO, PAUL. The Nature Conservancy, Michigan Chapter, 101 East Grand River Avenue, Lansing, MI 48906, USA (pmarangelo@tnc.org).
THE NATURE CONSERVANCY'S APPROACH TO AQUATIC BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION IN MICHIGAN
S06-01 CROWDER, LARRY B. Duke University Marine Laboratory, Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, 135 Duke Marine Lab Road, Beaufort, NC 28516-9721, USA (lcrowder@duke.edu).
IMPLICATIONS OF BIODIVERSITY LOSS IN AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS: A SOMEWHAT SALTY PERSPECTIVE ON THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY AND FISHERIES IN THE GREAT LAKES
The Great Lakes have experienced increasing threats to biodiversity including altered hydrography, pollution, habitat alteration, invasive species, local extinction, and effects of global change. Here I place the Great Lakes in context from small freshwater systems to oceans regarding these threats and implications for fisheries. Species losses and invasions are much more common in small "insular" freshwater systems that in open "continenta" oceanic systems. Many freshwater stream fishes are extinct. But fewer extinctions of marine vertebrates have been documented than of fishes alone in the Great Lakes. Species losses and gains in the Great Lakes make some fisheries food webs vulnerable to invasion or rapid change relative to more diverse marine systems. Habitat loss and alteration is most extreme in freshwater systems and relative to open oceans. In marine systems, commercial fishing capacity far exceeds possible yields and many fisheries have destructive habitat or bycatch effects. By contrast commercial fisheries in the Great Lakes are a remnant of their former size – recreational fisheries dominate. Approaches to protecting biodiversity in marine systems increasingly focuses upon spatial reserves or zoning to meet the variety of goals society places upon these systems and to keep our options open for the future.
S06-02 EBY, LISA, Karen Mumford, Larry Crowder, J. Baird Callicott, E.J. Crossman, and Becky Cudmore. Wildlife Biology Program, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA (leby@forestry.umt.edu) (LE); Environmental Policy Program, Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia, 201 North Milledge Avenue, Athens, GA 30602, USA (KM); Duke University Marine Laboratory, Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, 135 Duke Marine Lab Road, Beaufort, NC 28516-9721, USA (LC); Department of Philosophy, Institute of Applied Sciences, University of North Texas, PO BOX 310920, Denton, TX 76205-0920, USA (JBC); Royal Ontario Museum, Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Biology and University of Toronto, 100 Queens's Park, Toronto, ON M5S 2C6, Canada (EJC, BC).
INCORPORATING BIODIVERSITY OBJECTIVES INTO FISHERIES MANAGEMENT: LESSONS FROM WORKSHOPS
Concurrent with an increasing commitment to maintaining biological diversity in natural systems, several management agencies within the Great Lakes basin have adopted new discourse to include biodiversity and other conservation concepts explicitly within their management objectives. As part of a larger project sponsored by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, workshops were convened to gain insight from both U.S. and Canadian citizens representing various governmental and nongovernmental organizations on the current perception of major changes in Great Lakes fish species diversity and its affects on their use or value of the lakes, how the range of values can be represented in current fisheries management, their views on conservation concepts for management, and more specifically potential opportunities and hurdles associated with the integration of biodiversity and other conservation concepts into fisheries management policy and actions to preserve current and future uses of the Great Lakes fishery. There were many overlapping issues of concern for citizens associated with the introduction of unintentional exotic species, habitat degradation, pollution, and inequalities in resource allocation and regulation between user groups. The largest sources of disagreement were associated with role for naturalized species and ways in which diverse and conflicting uses of the system can be accommodated.
S06-03 BRISTER, DEBORAH. Institute for Social, Economic and Ecological Sustainability, University of Minnesota, 186 McNeal Hall, 1985 Buford Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108-6142, USA (djb@fw.umn.edu).
AQUACULTURE IN THE GREAT LAKES: CONSERVING BIODIVERSITY USING THE ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT TOOL FOR AQUACULTURE IN THE GREAT LAKES BASIN
An increasing interest in aquaculture development in the
Great Lakes region has inspired the development of an aquaculture environmental
assessment tool for aquaculture facilities in the Great Lakes. There are
approximately 560 aquaculture facilities in the Great Lakes basin all under
varying degrees of jurisdictional regulation. Because the Great Lakes are
interconnected water bodies, organisms may move freely from one body of water
to another, making aquaculture management a possible contentious issue between
jurisdictions. To best address the multitude of issues that need to be
considered when determining the suitability and environmental effects of an
aquaculture facility at a particular site, we have assembled an environmental
assessment tool that methodically takes the user through these issues,
identifies potential hazards and, when possible, makes risk management
recommendations. It is comprised of three distinct components: the pathway
flowcharts that guide users through assessment of potential environmental
effects, the supporting text that provides scientific background, and the
summary documentation that traces the user's path through the assessment
pathway and prompts the user to describe the rationale for any selected risk
management measures. This tool aims to assist decision-makers and other
interested parties by providing a systematic and consistent process for
assessing aquaculture facilities.
S06-04 LODGE, DAVID, David Finnoff, Cindy Kolar, Gary Lamberti, Brian Leung, Mark Lewis, Hugh MacIsaac, and Jason Shogren. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA (lodge.1@nd.edu) (DL, GL, BL); Department of Economics, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816-1400, USA (DF); UMEC-USGS, 2630 Fanta Reed Road, La Crosse, WI 54603, USA (CK); Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2G1, Canada (ML); Biology Department, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON N98 3P4, Canada (HM); Department of Economics and Finance, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071-3985, USA (JS).
INCORPORATING ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC VALUES IN RISK ANALYSES OF NONINDIGENOUS SPECIES IN THE GREAT LAKES
Noninidigenous species have changed Great Lakes biodiversity and ecosystem function more than any other human impact. Many fish species have been introduced intentionally and continue to have a strong human constituency, but far more fish and other species are introduced unintentionally and are universally disliked. For both intentional and unintentional introductions, however, even rudimentary risk analyses have been rare, and prevention of unwanted species practically nonexistent. Instead, society has largely reacted to new species, rarely with successful but costly control efforts (e.g., sea lamprey), and more commonly with resignation even in the face of substantial ecological and economic costs. Such passivity is unnecessary, and we advocate risk analyses that combine ecology and economics. Such analyses – based on recent advances in ecological and economic forecasting – provide guidance for choices among alternative prevention and control strategies. Examples include: forecasts of which fishes from the Ponto-Caspian basin are most likely to establish, spread, and have undesirable impacts in the Great Lakes; and forecasts of the economic value of preventing the continuing spread of zebra mussels. Such risk analyses strongly suggest that more societal investment in risk analyses and prevention will pay ecological and economic dividends.
S06-05 MUMFORD, KAREN. Environmental Policy Program, Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia, 201 North Milledge Avenue, Athens, GA 30602, USA (mumford@cviog.uga.edu).
GOVERNANCE CAPACITY FOR MANAGING NATIVE AND NON-NATIVE FISH SPECIES ON LAKE MICHIGAN
The fish community of Lake Michigan has changed considerably
over time. Habitat degradation, over fishing, and invasion of the lake by
non-native species have facilitated the reduction or extinction of native
species and the establishment of non-native species. Paralleling these species
shifts were shifts in the governance of the Lake and its fishes. Governance
regimes have shifted from communal aboriginal to open access to state managed
regimes and currently, to a collaborative regime involving stakeholders and
tribal, state, federal, and bi-national management entities. Certain past
governance regimes were incapable of preventing the loss of native species or
thwarting invasions by non-native species. Why should we assume that the
current governance structure is any better equipped to protect biodiversity –
especially given increasing rates of species change in the Great Lakes? To
address this question, I examine the ecological and social forces that shaped
past governance of the fishery. This provides a context-rich approach for understanding
how current conditions emerged. Next, I examine the emergence of collaborative
governance as an extension of past governance regimes. Finally, I highlight
potential policy strategies for improving the capacity of the current
governance structure to protect native species and prevent invasions by
non-native species.
S06-06 SPANGLER, GEORGE R. Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, University of Minnesota, 1980 Folwell Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108-6124, USA (GRS@finsandfur.fw.umn.edu).
SOVEREIGNTY: POLITICAL AND BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY IN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
The notion of "diversity," interpreted by most biologists as a measure of species richness of a biotic community, frequently conveyed an image of "stability" or "climax communities" in the lexicon of early ecologists. Subsequently, its participial derivative, "diversification" has become a key feature of strategies to insulate biological communities from catastrophic change that would have dire consequences for those dependent upon such communities. Parallel notions of "stability" and "minimizing risk" arise in consideration of investment portfolios, agricultural planting strategies, and product development in manufacturing. In all these cases, the impetus for diversification is acknowledgement of a certain degree of unpredictibility in the forces that govern production. Leaving aside for the moment the general problem of how best to characterize diversity, I will concentrate on exploring the ways in which disparate objectives arising from diverse political and cultural interests provide both opportunities and constraints in deriving benefit from natural resources. The two cases under consideration are development of wild rice, Zizania palustris, as an agricultural commodity, and the salmonid fisheries of the Great Lakes. In both of these cases, contemporary practice has been both fostered and limited by the sovereign status of the participants.
S06-07 DEPHILIP, MICHELE M. The Nature Conservancy, Great Lakes Program, 8 South Michigan Avenue, Suite 2301, Chicago, IL 60603, USA (mdephilip@tnc.org).
DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A FRESHWATER CONSERVATION BLUEPRINT FOR THE GREAT LAKES REGION
In 1996, The Nature Conservancy's Great Lakes Program launched a collaborative initiative to identify areas of biodiversity significance in the Great Lakes region. At that time, despite wide recognition that the habitats of the Great Lakes region support tremendous biological diversity, there was no comprehensive vision for conservation of these resources. The Nature Conservancy and its partners recognized the need to characterize the natural diversity of the region and to develop a conservation blueprint that includes areas that need to be protected to conserve the regions native biodiversity. The ecoregional planning initiative is a systematic approach that considers elements of biodiversity species, natural communities, and ecosystems across their range, and determines how much of and where these elements need to be protected over the long term. The initiative explicitly addresses freshwater ecosystems, including rivers, inland lakes, and coastal habitats. We completed a significant portion of the conservation blueprint in 2000, and the blueprint has already begun to direct where The Nature Conservancy and its conservation partners will focus limited time and resources.
S06-08 MARANGELO, PAUL. The Nature Conservancy, Michigan Chapter, 101 East Grand River Avenue, Lansing, MI 48906, USA (pmarangelo@tnc.org).
THE NATURE CONSERVANCY'S APPROACH TO AQUATIC BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION IN MICHIGAN
Part of the Michigan Chapter of The Nature Conservancy’s mission is to facilitate the conservation of biological communities in 81 aquatic conservation sites – a large number that presents strategic challenges to achieving this objective. In the past two years, we have employed a variety of approaches on a subset of sites with various levels of institutional resource commitment to work towards achieving our aquatic objectives with partner organizations. Examples of approaches include securing funds for to hire staff within partner organizations to work on implementation of jointly generated river conservation plans; expanding TNC staff capacity to focus on a high priority agricultural river and apply resulting strategies to all agricultural rivers; working with academic, non-profit, and state agencies on a river assessment with the goal of creating a pilot project to demonstrate the feasibility of incorporating ecosystem-based assessment criteria into state agency surface water assessment methodology; and contracting a small local non-profit to conduct a watershed assessment in a forested Upper Peninsula watershed. These projects have not yet matured to the point where they have yielded measurable conservation results, but do demonstrate a certain level of programmatic success that will guide our future approaches to aquatic conservation.
S07 Reversing the Paradigm:
Science-Based Conservation Planning in the Boreal Forest
S07-01 LEE, PETER G. Global Forest Watch Canada, 10337 146th Street, Edmonton, AB T5N 3A3, Canada (GFWCanada@shaw.ca).
OVERVIEW OF BOREAL FORESTS IN CANADA AND BEYOND
S07-02 STELFOX, J. BRAD, and Shawn Wasel. Forem Technologies, Box 805, Bragg Creek, AB T0L 0K0, Canada (bstelfox@telusplanet.net) (JBS); Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries, Inc., Bag 8000, Boyle, AB T0A 0M0, Canada (SW).
ALBERTA'S BOREAL FOREST: A LANDSCAPE IN TRANSITION – IMPLICATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPES AND LANDUSE
S07-03 BOUTIN, STAN. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6H 4L2, Canada (stan.boutin@ualberta.ca).
WOODLAND CARIBOU AS A FOCAL SPECIES FOR CONSERVATION
S07-04 VILLARD, MARC-ANDRÉ, and Pierre Drapeau. Canada Research Chair
in Landscape Conservation, Université de Moncton, Moncton, NB E1A 3E9, Canada
(villarm@umoncton.ca) (MAV); NSERC Industrial Chair in Sustainable Forest
Management, Université du Québec à Montréal, C.P. 8888, Succursale
Centre-Ville, Montréal, QC H3C 3P8, Canada (PD).
BOREAL BIRDS: HARBINGERS OF ECOSYSTEM DEGRADATION OR MODELS OF RESILIENCE?
S07-05 BAYLEY,
SUZANNE E. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta,
Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9, Canada (sbayley@ualberta.ca).
EFFECTS OF HUMAN ACTIVITY ON BOREAL WETLANDS
S07-06 ANGELSTAM, PER, Lars Laestadius, Tommy Ek, Jean-Michel Roberge. Forest Faculty, Department of Conservation Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-730 91 Riddarhyttan, Sweden (per.angelstam@nvb.slu.se) (PA, JMR); Örebro University, Department of Natural Sciences, Centre for Landscape Ecology, SE-701 82 Örebro, Sweden (PA); World Resources Institute, 10 G Street NE, Washington, DC 20002, USA (LL); County Administration Board of Östergötland, SE-581 86 Linköping, Sweden (TE).
DATA AND TOOLS FOR CONSERVATION, MANAGEMENT AND RESTORATION OF BOREAL FOREST ECOSYSTEMS AT MULTIPLE SCALES
S07-07 SCHMIEGELOW, FIONA K.A. Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, 751 General Services Building, Edmonton, AB T6G 2H1, Canada (fiona.schmiegelow@ualberta.ca).
LARGE-SCALE CONSERVATION PLANNING FOR CANADA'S BOREAL FORESTS
S07-01 LEE, PETER G. Global Forest Watch Canada, 10337 146th Street, Edmonton, AB T5N 3A3, Canada (GFWCanada@shaw.ca).
OVERVIEW OF BOREAL FORESTS IN CANADA AND BEYOND
At the global level, although the boreal region represents Earth's most extensive terrestrial biome and is home to some of the last remaining significant wilderness areas on the planet, the increase in world demand for forest products and energy is accelerating pressure on the biome. Using Landsat 7 ETM (plus) and other satellite imagery, Global Forest Watch Canada found that over 70 percent of Canada's boreal/taiga forest region remains as large, intact forest landscapes in Canada. On a global scale, in comparison with other nations of similar forest type, this is more than remains as large, intact forest landscapes in Russia, although Russia has twice the boreal/taiga area than Canada. Canada's boreal/taiga region is impacted in the southern portions by a massive increase in industrial activities – primarily timber, hydrocarbon, hydroelectric and mineral extraction operations – which is unprecedented in terms of both its huge scale and rapidity. A major challenge will be to ensure the maintenance of this global ecological treasure in the face of massive, imminent industrial pressures, misguided government policies and climate warming and other atmospheric threats. Strategic science and information would enhance our ability to move quickly and efficiently regarding conservation of Canada's boreal/taiga region.
S07-02 STELFOX, J. BRAD, and Shawn Wasel. Forem Technologies, Box 805, Bragg Creek, AB T0L 0K0, Canada (bstelfox@telusplanet.net) (JBS); Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries, Inc., Bag 8000, Boyle, AB T0A 0M0, Canada (SW).
ALBERTA'S BOREAL FOREST: A LANDSCAPE IN TRANSITION – IMPLICATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPES AND LANDUSE
This presentation will focus on the past, current, and future scale and rate of landscape transformation in Alberta's boreal forest. Using A Landscape Cumulative Effects Simulator (ALCES), this presentation tracks historic land use practices in northern Alberta and projects a future landscape based on industry and government estimates of development for the energy, forestry, transportation, and agricultural sectors. The anthropogenic footprint in boreal Alberta is not stationary, but growing at an exponential rate for many landuse variables. Conservative estimates of annual rates of activity relating to the oil and gas, forestry and transportation sector, as simulated by ALCES, suggest that significant losses (10-20%) to the upland forest land base of northern Alberta are likely to occur during the next forest harvest rotation (100 years). Densities of linear features (roads, seismic lines, pipelines) currently average 2.5 km/km2 and are expected to approach 10 km/km2 if current metrics are applied to future landuse trajectories. The future ability of the landscape to provide appropriate levels of biological and physical services, production of petrochemical and agricultural resources, aesthetic appeal, and homes and infrastructure for people will largely be determined by how well society recognizes the cumulative effects of our land use practices, by whether society has the vision and fortitude to develop a landscape plan that seeks balance to the competing demands on this landscape, and the commitment by which this landscape plan is implemented. An important component to seeking a balance between landuse practice and ecological integrity lies in a better understanding by managers of how all landuses conduct their practices and in devising a more integrated approach to laying out such features as roads. Significant savings to capital budgets and reduced ecological risk await those managers prepared to "think outside the box" and contribute to landscape planning across "meaningful" space and time.
S07-03 BOUTIN, STAN. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6H 4L2, Canada (stan.boutin@ualberta.ca).
WOODLAND CARIBOU AS A FOCAL SPECIES FOR CONSERVATION
Woodland caribou have Threatened Status in Alberta, Canada and most populations continue to shown declining trends. I will summarize results of a 10-year study of herds in northeastern Alberta where we have been able to understand some of the dynamics driving this downward trend. Caribou in this region occupy large peatland complexes that overlay rich oil and gas deposits and are surrounded by an active forestry sector. These activities combine to produce some classic cumulative effects issues and I will show how we model these and their effects on caribou to understand the levels of risk associated with various landuse strategies. I will end by outlining how we have produced caribou effective habitat thresholds as a means of managing industrial activity levels.
S07-04 VILLARD, MARC-ANDRÉ, and Pierre Drapeau. Canada Research Chair
in Landscape Conservation, Université de Moncton, Moncton, NB E1A 3E9, Canada
(villarm@umoncton.ca) (MAV); NSERC Industrial Chair in Sustainable Forest
Management, Université du Québec à Montréal, C.P. 8888, Succursale
Centre-Ville, Montréal, QC H3C 3P8, Canada (PD).
BOREAL BIRDS: HARBINGERS OF ECOSYSTEM DEGRADATION OR MODELS OF RESILIENCE?
Because they are relatively conspicuous and, thus, easy to detect and monitor, birds are often used as indicators of habitat alteration by human activities. In this paper, we will briefly review the pros and cons of using boreal birds as ecological indicators and we will compare their response to timber harvesting in contrasting settings: (1) an area recently opened to industrial forestry (the black spruce forest of northern Québec) and (2) two regions that have been deforested or harvested for over five decades (Abitibi, Québec and New Brunswick). We will also contrast bird response to agriculture and forestry in the Abitibi region. In each region, we surveyed birds at hundreds of point count stations sampling the dominant stand types and silvicultural treatments. We also measured the reproductive success of target species in managed and unmanaged stands and landscapes. Our results indicate that: (1) forest bird communities broadly reflect stand attributes and the landscape context; (2) some species are consistently sensitive to the intensity of harvesting at both spatial scales; (3) species strongly linked to natural disturbance regimes or to older seral stages and their attributes appear to be especially at risk, according to their patterns of occurrence and reproductive activity.
S07-05 BAYLEY,
SUZANNE E. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta,
Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9, Canada (sbayley@ualberta.ca).
EFFECTS OF HUMAN ACTIVITY ON BOREAL WETLANDS
Boreal wetlands make up a large portion of the boreal forest region and include extensive vegetated peatlands and associated wetland ponds, large delta wetlands and riparian forests adjacent to streams and rivers. The biggest threats to wetlands are climate warming, hydroelectric development, oil and gas development, forestry and agriculture. The threats in eastern Canada differ from those in western Canada. In the east, the threats are primarily from hydroelectric development and forestry, while the threats in the western boreal region are mainly associated with climate warming, forestry and resource extraction. Mining of the extensive oil sand areas removes the surface peatlands and replaces them with lakes and fields. Oil and gas extraction and forestry change forested watersheds to unforested and increase road networks, both of which can change run-off and wildlife patterns. However, climate warming may have the largest impact on western boreal wetlands in the future. Recent droughts have increased peatland fires, decreased carbon accumulation, increased shrub invasion, decreased water levels in ponds and lakes, increased nutrient concentrations in ponds and increased the number of dry wetlands; all of which suggest that climate warming in the coming century will have massive impacts on wetlands. Most boreal wetlands are in public lands but there is little management and no legislation that protects them. One new program that may offer hope is Ducks Unlimited Canada's (DUC) new Western Boreal Forest Initiative. This conservation strategy and program targets 7 boreal regions for mapping, research and planning. DUC ranks the western boreal forest second only to the Prairie Pothole region in terms of continental importance to North American waterfowl.
S07-06 ANGELSTAM, PER, Lars Laestadius, Tommy Ek, Jean-Michel Roberge. Forest Faculty, Department of Conservation Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-730 91 Riddarhyttan, Sweden (per.angelstam@nvb.slu.se) (PA, JMR); Örebro University, Department of Natural Sciences, Centre for Landscape Ecology, SE-701 82 Örebro, Sweden (PA); World Resources Institute, 10 G Street NE, Washington, DC 20002, USA (LL); County Administration Board of Östergötland, SE-581 86 Linköping, Sweden (TE).
DATA AND TOOLS FOR CONSERVATION, MANAGEMENT AND RESTORATION OF BOREAL FOREST ECOSYSTEMS AT MULTIPLE SCALES
The transition from the classic forest sustainability concept focusing on wood as renewable resource, to ecological sustainability based on forest ecosystem management requires additional data collection to monitor status and trends, but also an extended and improved toolbox for analytic planning in several steps. In particular, a widening of the range of thematic data and spatially explicit analytic tools are crucial for determining the relative use of protection management but if necessary also restoration by rehabilitation and even re-creation of forests of different types. Our starting point for assessing ecological sustainability is based on the elements of biodiversity at multiple scales as proxies. First we review the appearing needs for data describing the extended forest sustainability concept, and analytic tools for strategic, tactical and operational planning of sustainable forest ecosystem management at spatial scales ranging from trees and stands to landscapes and regions. Second, we discuss the usefulness of the appearing new data sets and discuss gaps. Finally, due to incomplete availability of relevant proxy data and interpretation techniques, we argue for an adaptive hierarchical approach for the assessment and communication of the environmental sustainability of the boreal forest to different stakeholder groups.
S07-07 SCHMIEGELOW, FIONA K.A. Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, 751 General Services Building, Edmonton, AB T6G 2H1, Canada (fiona.schmiegelow@ualberta.ca).
LARGE-SCALE CONSERVATION PLANNING FOR CANADA'S BOREAL FORESTS
There exists an unparalleled opportunity for pro-active conservation planning in Canada's boreal forest. There similarly exists no model for how this might proceed, given the unique attributes of this system and situation. Whereas most conservation efforts have been reactive, tackling defined spatial units that are largely treated as static entities, the large spatial extent and inherently dynamic nature of the boreal biome calls for a different approach. Many of the paradigms that characterize conservation science simply do not apply. Here, I present a new, collaborative initiative that strives to reverse many of these paradigms, placing emphasis on maintenance of intact communities and resilient systems, rather than defining minimum critical levels for species persistence. Our approach refines the concept of ecological thresholds to deal with applications suited to large-scale conservation planning. It explicitly incorporates the diversity of forest composition, natural disturbance regimes, land-use history and tenure arrangements that characterize Canada's boreal forests. Our objective is to articulate a national vision for boreal conservation, while recognizing the need to develop implementation frameworks at regional levels. The latter is achieved through assembly and analysis of empirical data using multiple criteria, and at multiple spatial scales.
S08 Freshwater Biodiversity Conservation: Transitioning from
Priorities to Action
S08-01 HIGGINS, JONATHAN, and Robin Abell. The Nature Conservancy, 8 South Michigan Avenue, Suite 2301, Chicago, IL 60603-3318, USA (jhiggins@tnc.org) (JH); World Wildlife Fund, 1250 24th Street NW, Washington, DC 20037, USA (robin.abell@wwfus.org) (RA).
MAKING THE TRANSITION FROM FRESHWATER CONSERVATION PLANNING TO CONSERVATION ACTION: GOING FROM WHERE TO HOW
S08-02 PRINGLE, CATHERINE M. Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA (Pringle@sparc.ecology.uga.edu).
HYDROLOGIC CONNECTIVITY: A NEGLECTED DIMENSION OF CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
S08-03 ANGERMEIER, PAUL L. Virginia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA (biota@vt.edu).
ECOLOGISTS AS CATALYSTS FOR CONSERVING AQUATIC BIODIVERSITY
S08-04 TRUSH, BILL. McBain and Trush, PO Box 663, Arcata, CA 95518, USA (Bill@mcbaintrush.com).
RESTORING ENDANGERED ALLUVIAL PROCESSES AS A RECOVERY
STRATEGY FOR THE TRINITY RIVER
S08-05 HILDERBRAND, ROBERT, Jeffrey Kershner, and Warren Colyer. Center for Environmental Science, University of Maryland, Appalachian Laboratory, Frostburg, MD 21532, USA (hilderbrand@al.umces.edu) (RH); USDA Forest Service, Fish and Aquatic Ecology Unit, Department of Aquatic, Watershed, and Earth Resources, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322, USA (JK); Trout Unlimited, 230 West 100 North, Logan, UT 84321, USA (WC).
MAINTAINING AND RESTORING CONSERVATION POTENTIAL FOR INTERIOR CUTTHROAT TROUT: PARADIGMS AND POSSIBILITIES
S08-06 HOGAN, ZEB. Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology, One Shields Avenue, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA (zebhogan@hotmail.com).
FROM PRIORITIES TO ACTION: THE MEKONG FISH CONSERVATION PROJECT (CAMBODIA)
S08-07 DUDGEON, DAVID. Department of Ecology and Biodiversity, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, P.R. China (ddudgeon@hkucc.hku.hk).
CONSERVATION OF RIVERINE BIODIVERSITY IN ASIA: THREATS, INFORMATION, PRIORITIES AND ACTION
S08-01 HIGGINS, JONATHAN, and Robin Abell. The Nature Conservancy, 8 South Michigan Avenue, Suite 2301, Chicago, IL 60603-3318, USA (jhiggins@tnc.org) (JH); World Wildlife Fund, 1250 24th Street NW, Washington, DC 20037, USA (robin.abell@wwfus.org) (RA).
MAKING THE TRANSITION FROM FRESHWATER CONSERVATION PLANNING TO CONSERVATION ACTION: GOING FROM WHERE TO HOW
The World Wildlife Fund and The Nature Conservancy have each worked to incorporate freshwater biodiversity targets into their ecoregional planning. Both organizations are now focused on translating those plans into action. This process largely involves analyzing the extent and magnitude of threats to biologically important areas and then defining mitigation strategies. Dominant threats to freshwater targets typically constitute a different set from threats to terrestrial targets. Addressing these threats requires strategies that go beyond the creation of traditionally-defined protected areas. For instance, mitigating disturbances to natural flow and sediment regimes are priorities and can require interventions in both the terrestrial and aquatic realms; designing these interventions necessitates greater use of innovative tools. Important strategies for conserving freshwater biodiversity include ecologically sustainable water management, improving agricultural practices, re-establishing connectivity, and avoiding species invasions. We present examples of how ecoregional plans can inform strategies, focusing on joint work in the Southeast US and on projects conducted separately elsewhere. We describe threat assessments based on spatial data, expert assessment, and sampling, and offer results of a comparative analysis of data types for the Southeast. We discuss approaches for strategy development, including integrating freshwater and terrestrial priorities, and recommend avenues for future research.
S08-02 PRINGLE, CATHERINE M. Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA (Pringle@sparc.ecology.uga.edu).
HYDROLOGIC CONNECTIVITY: A NEGLECTED DIMENSION OF CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
Ecosystems throughout the world are threatened by habitat fragmentation caused by alterations in hydrologic connectivity. Hydrologic connectivity is used here in an ecological sense to refer to water-mediated transfer of matter, energy and/or organisms within or between elements of the hydrologic cycle. Dams, flow regulation, water diversion, and groundwater extraction are just a few of the many ways that human activities alter this property. Additionally, hydrologic connectivity perpetuates the flow of nutrients, toxic wastes, and exotic species in the landscape. The theoretical underpinnings of the conservation biology of fragmented landscapes were developed under a conceptual model of landscapes that were not yet entirely fragmented, and when awareness of hydrologic connectivity was in its infancy. The words 'stream' and 'river' do not even appear in the indices of major books on the subject of habitat fragmentation. Correspondingly, the debate among conservation biologists regarding the importance of size, shape, and configuration of biological reserves has ignored the importance of hydrologic connectivity. Here I highlight the consequences of aquatic fragmentation at levels from genes to ecosystems and on local to global scales. I will focus on the interacting effects of altered hydrology and contaminant transport, emphasizing the vulnerability of biological reserves.
S08-03 ANGERMEIER, PAUL L. Virginia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA (biota@vt.edu).
ECOLOGISTS AS CATALYSTS FOR CONSERVING AQUATIC BIODIVERSITY
Aquatic biota worldwide are highly imperiled due to industrialization of ecosystems. This transformation reflects the prevailing views of ecosystem worth, which focus narrowly on short-term egocentric values. >From this perspective, the primary role of ecologists is to dispassionately reveal mechanisms of ecosystem operation, especially those that might enhance production of desired goods. Social priorities, not scientific knowledge, limit biological conservation. Broader ethical imperatives open three additional roles for ecologists as conservation catalysts. Their most important role is to reduce ecological illiteracy and complacency among the public. Political support for conservation depends on public recognition of the many values of biota and of the ecological consequences of life-style choices. Such education comprises not only transfer of information but also inculcation of ethical perspectives. Another key role is to help publics formulate ecological questions amenable to scientific inquiry. Finally, ecologists can also develop tools and techniques to ensure that the best available knowledge is applied to those questions. For conservation to become a prominent societal goal, fundamental shifts in how ecologists inform the public are necessary. In particular, ecologists should de-emphasize research on ecosystem operation and redouble efforts to promote public ecological literacy.
S08-04 TRUSH, BILL. McBain and Trush, PO Box 663, Arcata, CA 95518, USA (Bill@mcbaintrush.com).
RESTORING ENDANGERED ALLUVIAL PROCESSES AS A RECOVERY STRATEGY FOR THE TRINITY RIVER
The mainstem Trinity River in northern California was once an alluvial river capable of constantly reshaping its channelbed and banks. In 1963, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation diverted up to 90% of the natural streamflow for power generation and water supply. Alluvial processes became endangered, and the Trinity River ceased being alluvial. With most of their primary spawning and rearing habitat upstream of an impassable dam, the mainstem channel below Lewiston became the primary habitat provider for Pacific salmon. Once altered by dam construction (blocked sediment supply) and flow regulation, the mainstem channel could never function entirely as before. But a scaled-down alluvial channel morphology could retain much of the river's original integrity provided key physical and biological processes are restored. In practice we must rely on the crucial assumption that native species, such as the Pacific salmon, have evolved with the natural flow regime. To guide a restoration program, several commonly known concepts that govern how alluvial channels work were compiled into 10 "attributes" of alluvial river integrity. Planned releases from Lewiston Dam will restore snowmelt hydrograph components to re-create physical and biological processes to meet several of the attributes. Restoration strategies focused on restoring alluvial processes, such as proposed for the Trinity River, may be the most practical and cost-effective for recovering regulated alluvial river ecosystems and the species that inhabit them.
S08-05 HILDERBRAND, ROBERT, Jeffrey Kershner, and Warren Colyer. Center for Environmental Science, University of Maryland, Appalachian Laboratory, Frostburg, MD 21532, USA (hilderbrand@al.umces.edu) (RH); USDA Forest Service, Fish and Aquatic Ecology Unit, Department of Aquatic, Watershed, and Earth Resources, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322, USA (JK); Trout Unlimited, 230 West 100 North, Logan, UT 84321, USA (WC).
MAINTAINING AND RESTORING CONSERVATION POTENTIAL FOR INTERIOR CUTTHROAT TROUT: PARADIGMS AND POSSIBILITIES
Distributions of cutthroat trout in many areas are disjunct as a result of isolation due to human made physical barriers, habitat degradation, and interactions with non-native species. Even for well distributed populations, the one-dimensional character of streams on the landscape makes loss of connectivity and isolation by fragmentation a persistent threat. In highly fragmented systems, the conservation focus has been on headwater and tributary streams and has often evolved into a conservation by isolation paradigm. Many of these populations have increased extinction risk due to small populations and restricted fragment size, and the fluvial (larger body size and migratory) life history component that probably linked and maintained populations as a metapopulation has largely disappeared. Simulation models indicate that small amounts of immigration from a larger source population or through managers moving fish can maintain persistence in even the most extinction-prone fragments. Recent work indicates the fluvial component can be re-expressed and seemingly marginal habitats may be extremely important to their existence. We view the restoration of a fluvial component as important to long-term persistence of populations and genetic diversity and propose multiple approaches to restore metapopulations yet protect existing populations from non-native invasions as population connectivity is restored.
S08-06 HOGAN, ZEB. Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology, One Shields Avenue, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA (zebhogan@hotmail.com).
FROM PRIORITIES TO ACTION: THE MEKONG FISH CONSERVATION PROJECT (CAMBODIA)
The Mekong Fish Conservation Project focuses on three species of threatened Mekong fish, the giant catfish, Pangasianodon gigas, the giant carp, Catlocarpio siamensis, and the river catfish, Pangasianodon hypophthalmus. The objectives of the project are to purchase endangered species for release, tag fishes to examine their migratory behavior and habitat use, collect non-invasive tissue samples for genetic analysis, and educate the public about fish ecology and conservation. Significant numbers of fish have been purchased and released. Acoustic tagging has indicated substantial migration among catfish species. Genetic analysis shows an extreme lack of genetic diversity in Thai captive-bred stock, raising questions as to the suitability of Thai stock for reintroduction efforts. In the short term, the purchase and subsequent release of captured wild fish decreases the probability of extinction of these species, and generates an appreciation for endangered species conservation. In the longer term, tagging and genetics research will help to determine the migratory patterns, habitat use, and exploitation rates of P. gigas and P. hypophthalmus. This knowledge is critical to the development of a long-term conservation strategy for these, and other, important Mekong fish species.
S08-07 DUDGEON, DAVID. Department of Ecology and Biodiversity, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, P.R. China (ddudgeon@hkucc.hku.hk).
CONSERVATION OF RIVERINE BIODIVERSITY IN ASIA: THREATS, INFORMATION, PRIORITIES AND ACTION
Asia is the most densely populated and degraded continent on Earth with the highest deforestation rates in the tropics. Aggressive water extraction and flow regulation are significant threats to riverine biodiversity in the region, and act in combination with overharvesting, pollution, and other sources of habitat degradation. Current inventories and knowledge of riverine biodiversity are generally lacking in Asia. In part, this reflects a limited representation of Asian science in the international limnological and conservation literature, but even the data that are available are not effectively deployed toward conservation ends. Exceptionally, China has produced 'Red Data Books' for endangered freshwater vertebrates, but strategies for their protection are underdeveloped. Where legislation to protect water resources have been put in place in Asia, they are directed towards enhancing human use of water – not biodiversity conservation – and enforcement remains weak. Steps are being taken to deal with species specific harvesting, but huge obstacles remain in the management of rivers crossing international boundaries. Even within national borders, local interests override drainage-basin perspectives. In many places, preservation of near-pristine riverine environments is no longer an option, and minimizing further biodiversity loss in degraded ecosystems may be the most achievable goal.
S09 Protecting Moving Targets: Integrating Movement Ecology
and Conservation Practice
S09-01 YODER, ANNE D., Link Olson, Rodin Rasoloarison, Voahangy Soarimalala, Daniel Rakotondravony, and Steve Goodman. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA (anne.yoder@yale.edu) (ADY); Division of Mammals, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL 60605, USA (LO, SG); University of Antananarivo, Antananarivo, Madagascar (RR, VS, DR, SG).
THE MANY WAYS IN WHICH PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS IS REFINING CONSERVATION PRIORITIES FOR MALAGASY MAMMALS
S09-02 SCHWARTZ, MARK. Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 85616, USA (mwschwartz@ucdavis.edu).
MOVEMENT AS A RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE: WHAT TREES TELL US ABOUT DISPERSAL, CLIMATE CHANGE AND CONFLICTING CONSERVATION OBJECTIVES
S09-03 TRENHAM, PETER, and Lloyd Gamble. Section of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA (PT); Department of Natural Resources Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA (LG).
MOVING FROM METAPOPULATIONS TO LANDSCAPES: CONSERVATION OF DISPERSAL-LIMITED VERTEBRATES
S09-04 WILLIAMS, NEAL M. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA (nealw@princeton.edu).
PATCH-MATRIX MOVEMENT OF POLLINATORS DETERMINES CONNECTIVITY AT DIFFERENT LEVELS
S09-05 BARBER, PAUL H. Boston University Marine Program, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA (pbarber@bu.edu).
DISPERSAL AND CONSERVATION IN MARINE ENVIRONMENTS: APPLICATION AND LIMITATION OF GENETIC APPROACHES
S09-06 MABEY, SARAH E. Research Coop Unit, Department of Zoology, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7617, Raleigh, NC 27695-7617, USA (semabey@ncsu.edu).
CHANGING LIFE HISTORY TRADE-OFFS: THE CONSEQUENCES OF ALTERING MIGRATORY BIRD STOPOVER HABITAT
S09-01 YODER, ANNE D., Link Olson, Rodin Rasoloarison, Voahangy Soarimalala, Daniel Rakotondravony, and Steve Goodman. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA (anne.yoder@yale.edu) (ADY); Division of Mammals, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL 60605, USA (LO, SG); University of Antananarivo, Antananarivo, Madagascar (RR, VS, DR, SG).
THE MANY WAYS IN WHICH PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS IS REFINING CONSERVATION PRIORITIES FOR MALAGASY MAMMALS
Phylogenetic analysis of molecular data uniquely enables investigators to decipher the evolutionary past of extant organisms. Phylogenies reveal the hierarchical nature of relationships, and can also reveal both the relative and absolute geological ages of the organisms under investigation. We illustrate the many ways in which these aspects of phylogenetic analysis are refining conservation priorities by altering our views of species-level taxonomy, and thus our understanding of geographic distributions, dispersal abilities, and fine-scale habitat use in Malagasy mammals. Specifically, we illustrate these points in mouse lemurs and long-tailed shrew tenrecs. For both groups, phylogenetic analysis has revealed the presence of numerous cryptic species, some of which are found only in fragmented and threatened microhabitats. At the most fundamental level, this clarifies the need to protect these habitats. Our work is also revising long-held views concerning the ecological elasticity and relative abundance of mouse lemur and tenrec species. We show that although some are ecological generalists and able dispersers, and thus are presumably robust to environmental degradation, others are highly constrained in their ecological requirements and should be differentially targeted for protection. These studies are being extended to include numerous groups of terrestrial vertebrates in Madagascar, and should ultimately allow us to prioritize areas for protection based on knowledge of the relative fragility and rarity of resident organisms.
S09-02 SCHWARTZ, MARK. Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 85616, USA (mwschwartz@ucdavis.edu).
MOVEMENT AS A RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE: WHAT TREES TELL US ABOUT DISPERSAL, CLIMATE CHANGE AND CONFLICTING CONSERVATION OBJECTIVES
Rates of historical tree migrations suggest that a large proportion of plant diversity is at risk of extinction as a consequence of global warming. Species may be lost and communities may be disrupted as a result of shifting climatically constrained distributions coupled with limited dispersal ability. These problems are exacerbated by habitat fragmentation. Understanding constraints placed on plants and their abilities to respond to global climate change are integral to comprehensive planning for conservation. Limits to the rate of dispersal-mediated changes are uncertain but maximum rates of observed migrations during the Holocene are not close to required movement rates under global warming scenarios. The result is a potential migration lag, the consequence of which is extinction for species with limited distribution. A second problem facing conservationists is a detection problem. Lack of recruitment, premature death, and elevated mortality rates all have proximate causes that are not easily linked to climate change. Finally, conservation typically uses natural community composition as a target. Augmenting movement of plants into new environments may solve a dispersal limitation problem and help maintain diversity, but creates new problems associated with defining conservation goals. These are not future scenarios, but problems faced by today's conservation managers.
S09-03 TRENHAM, PETER, and Lloyd Gamble. Section of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA (PT); Department of Natural Resources Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA (LG).
MOVING FROM METAPOPULATIONS TO LANDSCAPES: CONSERVATION OF DISPERSAL-LIMITED VERTEBRATES
Metapopulation theory has been widely adopted as a paradigm of choice in planning for the conservation of wildlife in fragmented landscapes. This approach is attractive in that it accommodates important natural processes, such as recolonization of habitat patches following local extinctions. However, assuming a simple metapopulation structure that ignores the importance of matrix habitat can lead to dangerous oversimplification and ineffective planning. Due to their relatively limited mobility and patchy distribution, amphibians are used as model systems for research in spatial ecology, and will be used to illustrate the considerations critical for effective landscape-level conservation. In a simple metapopulation framework, all of the requirements for life (breeding, feeding, and year-round survival) occur within a single habitat patch, and movement is only important for dispersal among patches. For many amphibians the situation is more complicated, with different, spatially-disjunct habitats used for each of these requirements, and intervening matrix habitats of varying permeability (i.e., ranging from barriers to corridors). Based on case study examples from published research and conservation plans in which metapopulation and landscape ecology theory have been applied, we will present a generalized decision framework that practitioners can use in planning for the preservation and recovery of spatially structured regional populations.
S09-04 WILLIAMS, NEAL M. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA (nealw@princeton.edu).
PATCH-MATRIX MOVEMENT OF POLLINATORS DETERMINES CONNECTIVITY AT DIFFERENT LEVELS
Within mosaic landscapes, pollinator movements link natural habitat patches and the human-dominated matrix on at least two levels. First, in some systems the matrix represents habitat of variable quality that provides food, nesting, or other resources, as well as sources of mortality not found in natural habitat. The quality of matrix patches will likely affect permeability, rate and frequency of movement among patches of natural habitat and between habitat and matrix. Such movements contribute to persistence of pollinators within remnant natural habitats and the landscape as a whole. Second, pollinator foraging movements serve a functional role by determining mating patterns for animal-pollinated plants within and among patches. This second level of movement influences gene flow, effective population size and reproductive success of the affected plants. Published data on gene flow in fragmented plant populations support both positive and negative effects of isolation. Likewise fragmentation appears to affect pollinator taxa differently. I review existing studies of gene flow, pollinator movement and pollinator communities in fragmented landscapes and ask (1) whether patterns of movement for pollinators and plants are influenced by the type and quality of the intervening matrix and the focal habitat, and (2) whether gene flow in plant populations depends on the type of pollinators involved. I use the results to identify generalities that may help inform conservation planning and suggest directions for further investigation.
S09-05 BARBER, PAUL H. Boston University Marine Program, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA (pbarber@bu.edu).
DISPERSAL AND CONSERVATION IN MARINE ENVIRONMENTS: APPLICATION AND LIMITATION OF GENETIC APPROACHES
Many marine organisms are sessile or non-dispersive as adults, yet have populations spanning broad spatial scales. Demographic and genetic exchange among such populations had long been assumed to be facilitated by pelagic larval dispersal. Genetic techniques have been increasingly applied to the question of marine larval dispersal and have been useful in demonstrating the lack of connectivity among populations on both broad and fine spatial scales. Genetically structured populations indicate limited dispersal and genetic exchange among geographic regions over both deep and shallow temporal scales, highlighting the need for regionally focused management strategies. Many studies also show high gene flow among distant marine populations. However, it is often difficult to link the absence of genetic structure and evolutionarily significant levels of gene flow to demographically significant dispersal and recruitment, the latter a prime concern of resource managers. Developing molecular methods that allow the inference of connectivity among marine populations is an active area of study and is likely to remain an important focus of future research. Nonetheless, molecular genetic techniques can provide vitally important information to resource managers and should be drawn upon more heavily in the framing of marine conservation policy.
S09-06 MABEY, SARAH E. Research Coop Unit, Department of Zoology, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7617, Raleigh, NC 27695-7617, USA (semabey@ncsu.edu).
CHANGING LIFE HISTORY TRADE-OFFS: THE CONSEQUENCES OF ALTERING MIGRATORY BIRD STOPOVER HABITAT
Although migratory birds occupy a central position in the realm of conservation, their mobile lifestyles present considerable ecological and political challenges to conservation scientists and practitioners. Migration has long been understood as a complex and costly behavior through which a bird may exploit ecological conditions that maximize survival and reproductive success. However, despite the history of empirical work relating to the life history trade-offs of occupying disjunct breeding and survival habitats, the risks of the movement itself are only now receiving adequate attention. While there is evidence that migration accounts for most of the mortality in first-year birds and may account for sex-specific differences in survival, ecologists have only begun to identify how migration events produce these results. Advances in stable isotope analysis, genetics, and tracking technology combined with studies of stopover behavior and energetics are overcoming the problems of connecting the spatially and temporally dynamic conditions of migration with individuals and populations, leading to more precise estimates of the true costs of migrating. I present a synthesis of empirical and theoretical work to explore three issues: 1) Are the rapid changes in habitat availability and suitability increasing the costs of migrating? 2) Can individuals compensate through life-history trade-offs? 3) What conservation actions are necessary to buffer the costs of migrating?
S10 Coastal Wetland Vegetation as a Harbinger of
Environmental Change
S10-01 BRINSON, MARK, and Richard Rheinhardt. Biology Department, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858, USA (brinsonM@mail.ecu.edu).
BIOMASS AND SPECIES COMPOSITION AS INDICATORS OF ECOSYSTEM CONDITION OF TWO CONTRASTING COASTAL PLAIN WETLAND TYPES
S10-02 JOHNSTON, CAROL, Paul Meysembourg, and Tom Hollenhorst. Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota Duluth, 5013 Miller Trunk Highway, Duluth, MN 55811, USA (cjohnsto@d.umn.edu).
GIS-DERIVED INDICATORS OF ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSORS AND ECOSYSTEM RESPONSES OF GREAT LAKES COASTAL WETLANDS
S10-03 WHIGHAM, DENNIS, and Mary Leck. Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Box 28, Edgewater, MD 21037, USA (whighamd@si.edu) (DW); Rider University, 2083 Lawrenceville Road, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648, USA (ML).
PLANT SPECIES DIVERSITY IN TIDAL FRESHWATER AND TIDAL BRACKISH WETLANDS OF THE MID-ATLANTIC COAST
S10-04 FRIESWYK, CHRISTIN B., and Joy B. Zedler. Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Birge Hall, 430 Lincoln Drive, Madison, WI 53703, USA (cbfrieswyk@students.wisc.edu).
TYPES OF DOMINANCE BY WETLAND PLANTS INDICATE ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS
S10-05 MORRIS, JAMES T. Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA (morris@biol.sc.edu).
INDICATORS OF COASTAL WETLAND RESPONSES TO RISING SEA LEVEL
S10-01 BRINSON, MARK, and Richard Rheinhardt. Biology Department, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858, USA (brinsonM@mail.ecu.edu).
BIOMASS AND SPECIES COMPOSITION AS INDICATORS OF ECOSYSTEM CONDITION OF TWO CONTRASTING COASTAL PLAIN WETLAND TYPES
Riparian areas and wet interstream divides are two important landscape features of the southeastern coastal plain, USA. We use data from riparian forests along headwater streams and wet pine savannas to illustrate how vegetation can be used in different ways as indicators of environmental quality. Riparian forests were ranked by the maturity of forest buffer and corresponding biomass. The assumption is that living components have the capacity to store and recycle nutrients, non-living components contribute to detrital food webs, and both are important for habitat structure. Biomass estimated for five cover types, ranging from mature forest (>50 years) to annual row crops, spanned two orders of magnitude. Woody vegetation dominated the live biomass component while litter and soil organic matter dominated the detrital component. Species composition of the woody vegetation is a mesic to hydrophytic assemblage of hardwoods common also in wet hardwood flats. Wet savannas have comparatively less biomass and detritus than riparian forests as suggested by low tree densities and the nutrient and organic poor, sandy soils. In contrast, ecosystem condition is indicated by species composition, with fire-dependent bunchgrasses and annual forbs signaling the lack of alteration by humans. The strikingly different approaches toward estimating ecosystem condition in these two wetland types are a consequence of their differing functions and landscape settings. Riparian forests are imbedded in a landscape of intense agricultural practices, and contain few species to distinguish them from unaltered sites. Wet savannas, where they occur, dominate the landscape and provide refuges for high species richness.
S10-02 JOHNSTON, CAROL, Paul Meysembourg, and Tom Hollenhorst. Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota, 5013 Miller Trunk Highway, Duluth, MN 55811, USA (cjohnsto@d.umn.edu).
GIS-DERIVED INDICATORS OF ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSORS AND ECOSYSTEM RESPONSES OF GREAT LAKES COASTAL WETLANDS
Wetland inventories were compiled from existing sources for the eight Great Lakes states, and used in a GIS to derive landscape-scale indicators. "Coastal wetlands" can be defined within a fixed distance of the coast, within coastal counties, or within an elevation threshold above lake level. The density of wetlands within the coastal zone is partly a function of geology, but also a function of agricultural and urban development, such that wetlands are themselves indicators of coastal environmental change. Palustrine wetland loss rates were estimated by comparing areas of hydric soils with current wetland areas. Wetland abundance and estimated loss rates were related to GIS-derived indicators of human disturbance, such as population density, road density, adjacent land use, and shoreline hardening. Within wetlands, measures of patch characteristics such as vegetation type, wetland size, wetland area:perimeter ratio, adjacent land use, and interspersion of wetland vegetation and open water can provide indicators of wetland integrity and habitat quality for wetland fauna.
S10-03 WHIGHAM, DENNIS, and Mary Leck. Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Box 28, Edgewater, MD 21037, USA (whighamd@si.edu) (DW); Rider University, 2083 Lawrenceville Road, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648, USA (ML).
PLANT SPECIES DIVERSITY IN TIDAL FRESHWATER AND TIDAL BRACKISH WETLANDS OF THE MID-ATLANTIC COAST
This presentation focuses on vegetation of tidal freshwater and brackish wetlands of the mid-Atlantic coast. The model we use to analyze and interpret habitat and species data has two elements: natural and human disturbances. In tidal freshwater wetlands, natural disturbances and dynamic hydrologic conditions maintain high levels of species diversity. Seed dispersal plays an important role in countering local extirpation. Studies of a created tidal freshwater wetland demonstrate rapid colonization in 5 yrs with 177 seed bank and 72 cover species, including rare species. Invasive species (e.g., Phragmites australis, Lythrum salicaria) have little impact on diversity in reference tidal freshwater wetlands. In contract, brackish wetlands have lower diversity and impacts of human activities in wetlands and on adjacent upland watersheds results in increased invasive species. Natural disturbance has little influence on species diversity in brackish wetlands, but the impacts of native (Muskrat) and non-native animals (Nutria) can be significant. The non-native Nutria, for example, has a negative impact on species diversity, converting habitats dominated by emergent species into open water. Although both types of wetlands are subject to various natural disturbances overlain by anthropogenic stresses, surrounding landscape uses appear to the have greatest impact on diversity in brackish wetlands.
S10-04 FRIESWYK, CHRISTIN B., and Joy B. Zedler. Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Birge Hall, 430 Lincoln Drive, Madison, WI 53703, USA (cbfrieswyk@students.wisc.edu).
TYPES OF DOMINANCE BY WETLAND PLANTS INDICATE ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS
Dominance is a plant community attribute and a component of vegetation diversity, but it comes in many types (as does rarity; Rabinowitz 1982), and one type of dominance might be a better indicator of environmental stress than another. We characterized patterns of dominance in the vegetation of 25 Lake Michigan coastal wetlands, chosen randomly across stressor gradients, using randomly placed 1-m2 quadrats and visual estimations of cover. Four patterns emerged: Four species achieved high cover (>25%) in at least one quadrat in many wetlands. Twelve achieved high cover in many quadrats within a wetland. Five had high cover (>50%) in most quadrats of occurrence when all quadrats were considered. Eight had high cover in most quadrats of occurrence in individual wetlands. Different types of dominance based on these patterns are likely related to environmental stress; the most disturbed landscapes likely support species that have (a) widespread dominance, (b) large areas of dominance within each wetland, and (c) high cover in most quadrats of occurrence. Changes in the type of dominance by an abundant species or expansion of a subdominant species could also indicate stress. "Dominance type" could be a useful indicator of wetland plant species responses to environmental stress.
S10-05 MORRIS, JAMES T. Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA (morris@biol.sc.edu).
INDICATORS OF COASTAL WETLAND RESPONSES TO RISING SEA LEVEL
Global warming may threaten the integrity of coastal wetlands because of an acceleration in the rate of sea-level rise. The stability of these ecosystems against historic rates of sea-level rise is explained by interactions among sea level, primary production, tidal range, and sediment accretion that regulate the elevation of the sediment surface toward an equilibrium with mean sea level. Coastal wetlands that are currently stable are poised at an elevation that is superoptimal for the marsh vegetation. As relative sea-level rises, primary production and biomass density increase, which enhances the efficiency of the marsh surface as a sediment trap. The equilibrium elevation decreases as the rate of sea-level rise increases. The productivity of marsh vegetation is maximized at an optimal elevation, which is a function of the rate of sea-level rise. However, the optimal elevation is close to a fatal limit. The near term stability of a coastal wetland can be assessed by measuring the biomass response to relative elevation and the current elevation of the marsh relative to the tidal range. There are related geomorphological indicators, such as pattens of tidal networks, and plant biophysical indicators, that might also signal a change in state and that could be monitored remotely.
S11 Community Involvement in Crane and
Ecosystem Conservation on Three Continents
S11-01 MEINE, CURT, James T. Harris, and Wellington Huffaker. Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, 1922 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53726, USA (curt@savingcranes.org) (CM); International Crane Foundation, E‑11376 Shady Lane Road, PO Box 447, Baraboo, WI 53913, USA (JH); Aldo Leopold Foundation, PO Box 77, Baraboo, WI 53913, USA (WH).
CRANES, COMMUNITIES, AND CONSERVATION BIOLOGY: CONNECTIONS IN TIME AND SPACE
S11-02 BEILFUSS, RICHARD, Carlos Bento, Arlindo Chilundo, and Cate Brown. International Crane Foundation, E‑11376 Shady Lane Road, PO Box 447, Baraboo, WI 53913, USA (RB); Museu da Historia Natural, Travessia Do Zambeze 104, Maputo, Mozambique (CB); Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, NET, Praca 25 de Junho, CP 257, Maputo, Mozambique (AC); Southern Waters, PO Box 13280, Mowbray 7705, Cape Town, South Africa (CB).
ENVIRONMENTAL FLOWS FOR THE SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF CAHORA BASSA DAM AND THE LOWER ZAMBEZI VALLEY, MOZAMBIQUE
S11-03 SMIRENSKI, SERGEI, and Elena Smirenski. Biological Department, Moscow State University, Vorobyevy Gory, Moscow 119899, Russian Federation (sergei@savingcranes.org) (SS); International Crane Foundation, E‑11376 Shady Lane Road, PO Box 447, Baraboo, WI 53913, USA (ES).
FROM APATHY TO PARTNERSHIP: INVOLVING LOCAL COMMUNITIES AT MURAVIOVKA PARK FOR SUSTAINABLE LAND USE (AMUR REGION, RUSSIA)
S11-04 HUFFAKER, WELLINGTON, Steve Swenson, Jeff Knetter, and Jeb Barzen. Aldo Leopold Foundation, PO Box 77, Baraboo, WI 53913, USA (buddy@aldoleopold.org) (WH, SS, JK); International Crane Foundation, E‑11376 Shady Lane Road, PO Box 447, Baraboo, WI 53913, USA (JB).
BRINGING COMMUNITY INTO COMMUNITY-BASED CONSERVATION: TWO CONTRASTING CASE STUDIES
S11-05 TRAN, TRIET, and Jeb Barzen. Department of Botany and Ecology, Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City, 227 Nguyen Van Cu, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (ttriet@hcm.vnn.vn) (TT); International Crane Foundation, E‑11376 Shady Lane Road, PO Box 447, Baraboo, WI 53913, USA (JB).
BUILDING TRUST AND LONG TERM COMMITMENT THROUGH WETLAND AND CRANE CONSERVATION IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
S11-06 MUHEEBWA-MUHOOZI, JIMMY, MAURICE WANJALA, Richard Beilfuss, Achilles Byaruhanga, Derek Pomeroy, and Bob Wishitemi. Wildlife Clubs of Uganda, Bushyeni, Uganda (derek@imul.com) (JMM); Kipsaina Wetlands Conservation Group, PO Box 18, Kipsaina, Kenya (MW); International Crane Foundation, E‑11376 Shady Lane Road, PO Box 447, Baraboo, WI 53913, USA (RB); Nature Uganda, PO Box 27034, Kampala, Uganda (AB); Institute of Environment and Natural Resources, Makerere University, PO Box 7298, Kampala, Uganda (DP); Department of Tourism Management, Moi University, PO Box 1125, Eldoret, Kenya (BW).
COMMUNITY-BASED CONSERVATION OF CRANES AND WETLANDS IN THE LAKE VICTORIA BASIN OF EAST AFRICA
S11-07 LI, FENGSHAN, and Mingjie Huang. International Crane Foundation, E‑11376 Shady Lane Road, PO Box 447, Baraboo, WI 53913, USA (fengshan@savingcranes.org) (FL); Guizhou Environmental Protection Bureau, Zunyi Road, Guiyang, Guizhou, P.R. China (MH).
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IN WETLAND AND WATERSHED MANAGEMENT AT CAO HAI NATIONAL NATURE RESERVE, CHINA
S11-08 SEXSON, DEANA, Jeb Barzen, and Ted Anchor. University of Wisconsin–Madison, NPM Program, 1575 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA (dlsexson@facstaff.wisc.edu) (DS, TA); International Crane Foundation, E‑11376 Shady Lane Road, PO Box 447, Baraboo, WI 53913, USA (JB).
IS THERE A CONTRADICTION BETWEEN ECONOMICALLY VIABLE POTATO PRODUCTION AND ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT ON FARMS AND ADJOINING LANDS?
S11-01 MEINE, CURT, James T. Harris, and Wellington Huffaker. Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, 1922 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53726, USA (curt@savingcranes.org) (CM); International Crane Foundation, E‑11376 Shady Lane Road, PO Box 447, Baraboo, WI 53913, USA (JH); Aldo Leopold Foundation, PO Box 77, Baraboo, WI 53913, USA (WH).
CRANES, COMMUNITIES, AND CONSERVATION BIOLOGY: CONNECTIONS IN TIME AND SPACE
The engagement of local communities is fundamental to conservation efforts throughout the world. The world's fifteen crane species illustrate this principle particularly well. Cranes serve as catalysts, stimulating efforts to protect and restore the biological diversity and ecological functions of the ecosystems upon which they depend. Cranes are primarily wetland species, flourishing at the interface of aquatic and terrestrial communities. Their survival requires the adoption of ecosystem and landscape approaches to conservation. Cranes also co-exist with diverse human cultures, amid complex and constantly changing socio-economic conditions. The processes involved in conserving cranes, their natural habitats, and the human communities unfold only slowly. For all these reasons, the successful involvement of local communities is essential to – and a critical predictor of – long-term success in crane and wetland conservation programs. As experimenters and learners, we need to demonstrate sustained commitment to the people and resources we work with, and to the nurturing of outcomes. The symposium presentations that follow examine community-based conservation projects in Asia, Africa, and North America. Though varied in their landscapes and cultural contexts, these case studies suggest common themes for success, and serve as examples of Aldo Leopold's conservation ethic in practice.
S11-02 BEILFUSS, RICHARD, Carlos Bento, Arlindo Chilundo, and Cate Brown. International Crane Foundation, E‑11376 Shady Lane Road, PO Box 447, Baraboo, WI 53913, USA (RB); Museu da Historia Natural, Travessia Do Zambeze 104, Maputo, Mozambique (CB); Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, NET, Praca 25 de Junho, CP 257, Maputo, Mozambique (AC); Southern Waters, PO Box 13280, Mowbray 7705, Cape Town, South Africa (CB).
ENVIRONMENTAL FLOWS FOR THE SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF CAHORA BASSA DAM AND THE LOWER ZAMBEZI VALLEY, MOZAMBIQUE
The Lower Zambezi is home to millions of people and of immense socio-economic and ecological value as one of the most productive and biologically diverse river-floodplain systems in Africa. Over the past forty years, the people and wildlife of this system have been devastated by the construction of large hydropower dams. Flood-recession agriculture and subsistence fisheries have collapsed, commercial prawn harvests have declined by $10 million per annum, and floodplain grasslands have been displaced by upland vegetation. Endangered Wattled Cranes, an indicator and flagship species for other flood-dependent wildlife, have ceased to breed. To rehabilitate the Lower Zambezi, scientists, engineers, and land managers are collaborating with decision-makers, community representatives, and other stakeholders to establish ecologically sustainable methods for managing dam outflows and improving living standards in the basin. The process involves (1) combining data and knowledge from a range of biophysical, social, and economic disciplines to model the effect of specified flow changes on key ecosystem components and produce flow-related scenarios for managers to consider, (2) building consensus with agency, stakeholder, and community representatives to establish a flow management plan, (3) implementing the plan and making water releases, and (4) monitoring and evaluating releases for adaptive management of Zambezi flows.
S11-03 SMIRENSKI, SERGEI, and Elena Smirenski. Biological Department, Moscow State University, Vorobyevy Gory, Moscow 119899, Russia (sergei@savingcranes.org) (SS); International Crane Foundation, E‑11376 Shady Lane Road, PO Box 447, Baraboo, WI 53913, USA (ES).
FROM APATHY TO PARTNERSHIP: INVOLVING LOCAL COMMUNITIES AT MURAVIOVKA PARK FOR SUSTAINABLE LAND USE (AMUR REGION, RUSSIA)
S11-04 HUFFAKER, WELLINGTON, Steve Swenson, Jeff Knetter, and Jeb Barzen. Aldo Leopold Foundation, PO Box 77, Baraboo, WI 53913, USA (buddy@aldoleopold.org) (WH, SS, JK); International Crane Foundation, E‑11376 Shady Lane Road, PO Box 447, Baraboo, WI 53913, USA (JB).
BRINGING COMMUNITY INTO COMMUNITY-BASED CONSERVATION: TWO CONTRASTING CASE STUDIES
Over 50 years ago, Aldo Leopold eloquently defined the 'Land Ethic.' In the Midwest, where the majority of the land is held in private ownership, it is critical to foster this ethic in private landowners to maintain the integrity of our native ecosystems. We will discuss two contrasting community conservation initiatives. The Blufflands Project, with a history of actually implementing conservation practices (in particular, prescribed burning) for over 10 years, and the Farming And Conservation Together (F.A.C.T.) conservation initiative, which has recently begun implementation after several years of planning. While these two projects were initiated under very different circumstances and presented substantially different challenges, we have found that landowner empowerment ensures certain outcomes. These include an increased appreciation for their responsibilities as stewards, a greater confidence to take on stewardship activities, and an overall improvement of their understanding of ecological processes.
S11-05 TRAN, TRIET, and Jeb Barzen. Department of Botany and Ecology, Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City, 227 Nguyen Van Cu, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (ttriet@hcm.vnn.vn) (TT); International Crane Foundation, E‑11376 Shady Lane Road, PO Box 447, Baraboo, WI 53913, USA (JB).
BUILDING TRUST AND LONG TERM COMMITMENT THROUGH WETLAND AND CRANE CONSERVATION IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
War brought dramatic environmental changes to Southeast Asia in the 1960s and 70's, with repercussions that will continue well into the 21st century. Military use of herbicides, dredging, bombing, and fire resulted in extensive denudation of land. Ironically, war and its immediate aftermath held off development pressures for thirty years or more, preserving extensive areas of wetland. Since the 1980s peace has emerged across this region, bringing massive development and rapid social change. Simultaneously, the region has been home to exciting new programs to repair the damages of war across broad landscapes. Though hopeful, the time available to implement these solutions is short. As such, in confronting these challenges governmental institutions (which have a dominant role in land-use issues in Southeast Asia) should not be thought of as a "curse," nor as the salvation. Our challenge is to engage the region's governments in a positive manner by providing sustainable development alternatives. Concomitantly, we must also implement tangible restoration projects that demonstrate what is possible, while responding to the needs of local, often impoverished, people. Such projects are complicated and require long-term commitment. Two wetland restoration efforts in the Mekong Delta (Plain of Reeds and Ha Tien Plain) exemplify our process.
S11-06 MUHEEBWA-MUHOOZI, JIMMY, MAURICE WANJALA, Richard Beilfuss, Achilles Byaruhanga, Derek Pomeroy, and Bob Wishitemi. Wildlife Clubs of Uganda, Bushyeni, Uganda (derek@imul.com) (JMM); Kipsaina Wetlands Conservation Group, PO Box 18, Kipsaina, Kenya (MW); International Crane Foundation, E‑11376 Shady Lane Road, PO Box 447, Baraboo, WI 53913, USA (RB); Nature Uganda, PO Box 27034, Kampala, Uganda (AB); Institute of Environment and Natural Resources, Makerere University, PO Box 7298, Kampala, Uganda (DP); Department of Tourism Management, Moi University, PO Box 1125, Eldoret, Kenya (BW).
COMMUNITY-BASED CONSERVATION OF CRANES AND WETLANDS IN THE LAKE VICTORIA BASIN OF EAST AFRICA
Lake Victoria basin has among the highest population densities in the world and landowners are increasingly compelled to cultivate erosive slopes and drain valley bottom swamps. As wetlands degrade and disappear their functions and values are lost, including vital habitat for Grey Crowned Cranes Balearica regulorum and other vulnerable species. Biodiversity conservation in this context depends on the capacity of rural communities to take innovative steps to manage their lands to sustain local economies and ecosystems. The Kipsaina Wetlands Conservation Group and Wildlife Clubs of Uganda have developed homegrown community-based wetland conservation programs in the basin based on practicable local land-use examples and fostered by strong, trustworthy local leadership. They reach schools, churches, and other institutions through workshops, seminars, debates, dramas, and choir performances, and engage thousands of young adults in wetland monitoring, conservation, and awareness activities. Site-specific educational materials draw from traditional knowledge and experiences of local people, using the Grey Crowned Crane as a flagship species for conservation. Farmer education programs promote alternative agricultural practices for fish farming, livestock grazing, agro-forestry, vegetable farming, and bee-keeping. We are working to scale-up from these localized efforts to develop a model program for community-based wetland conservation and self-reliance throughout the basin.
S11-07 LI, FENGSHAN, and Mingjie Huang. International Crane Foundation, E‑11376 Shady Lane Road, PO Box 447, Baraboo, WI 53913, USA (fengshan@savingcranes.org) (FL); Guizhou Environmental Protection Bureau, Zunyi Road, Guiyang, Guizhou, P.R. China (MH).
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IN WETLAND AND WATERSHED MANAGEMENT AT CAO HAI NATIONAL NATURE RESERVE, CHINA
Local communities located in or near Chinese nature reserves are often regarded as destructive to natural resources or, at best, act passively. These rural communities are usually poor and are so dependent upon the natural resources of reserves, they cannot be ignored. Tension between local residents and natural resource managers is often high and, as a result, natural resources continue to degrade. Chinese nature reserves will not persist if this trend continues. Over the last ten years, we have implemented a program at Cao Hai National Nature Reserve in China to place farmers in the central role of the natural resource conservation and management, and to integrate nature conservation with community development. The project initially relied on two micro-finance mechanisms and emphasized farmer participation in decision-making and conservation. These programs succeeded, and we are now strengthening linkages between rural development and ecosystem conservation by implementing participatory activities. Farmers' livelihood, conservation awareness, and social well-being have improved as a result. The high plateau wetland ecosystem and its surrounding watershed are recovering. Our final phase of program development is to extrapolate these findings at Cao Hai to other nature reserves in China.
S11-08 SEXSON, DEANA, Jeb Barzen, and Ted Anchor. University of Wisconsin–Madison, NPM Program, 1575 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA (dlsexson@facstaff.wisc.edu) (DS, TA); International Crane Foundation, E‑11376 Shady Lane Road, PO Box 447, Baraboo, WI 53913, USA (JB).
IS THERE A CONTRADICTION BETWEEN ECONOMICALLY VIABLE POTATO PRODUCTION AND ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT ON FARMS AND ADJOINING LANDS?
The World Wildlife Fund, the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association, and the University of Wisconsin have worked since 1996 to identify and accelerate adoption of pest, crop, and farm management practices to reduce the ecological footprint of potato production in Wisconsin. Collaboration goals include: increased Integrated Pest Management, reduced use of high-risk pesticides, ecosystem restoration, increased biodiversity, and improved soil and water quality. This has been a grower-driven process throughout the Collaboration effort. So far the Wisconsin potato industry has greatly reduced high-risk pesticide use and an eco-potato standard has been developed to provide a marketplace incentive for ecologically grown potatoes. This effort is now being expanded to include more direct ecosystem priorities. A pilot project to conduct on-farm audits of native prairie, savanna, and wetlands is underway. Following this we will develop farm plans to conserve and restore these important ecosystems. Providing one-on-one interaction with potato growers allows farm management plans to be integrated holistically with surrounding areas. The ultimate goal of this work is to integrate these activities by growers into potato eco-label standards thus directly involving society in the maintenance of commodities such as clean water and biological diversity as well as food production.
S12 Comparing Marine and Terrestrial Ecosystems: Implications
for Conservation Theory and Practice
S12-01 CARR, MARK H., and James A. Estes. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA (carr@biology.ucsc.edu) (MHC); U.S. Geological Survey, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA (JAE).
COMPARING MARINE AND TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE DESIGN OF COASTAL MARINE RESERVES
S12-02 LUNDQUIST, CAROLYN J., Simon F. Thrush, and Judi E. Hewitt. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), Gate 10, Silverdale Road, PO Box 11-115, Hamilton, New Zealand (c.lundquist@niwa.co.nz).
USING LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY TO DEFINE THRESHOLDS OF RESISTANCE TO FISHING DISTURBANCE IN MARINE SYSTEMS
S12-03 ROWELL, KIRSTEN, Karl W. Flessa, David L. Dettman, Martha Roman, and Jose Campoy. Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA (krowell@geo.arizona.edu) (KR, KWF, DLD); IMADES, Apdo. postal 452, San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora, C.P. 83449, Mexico (MR); CONANP/SEMARNAT, Apdo. postal 452, San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora, C.P. 83449, Mexico (JC).
DOUBLE THE TROUBLE: SUSTAINING MARINE AND RIVERINE PROCESSES IN THE ESTUARINE RESERVA DE LA BIOSFERA ALTO GOLFO DE CALIFORNIA Y DELTA DEL RIO COLORADO, MEXICO
S12-04 FIGUEIRA, WILL F., and Larry B. Crowder. Duke University Marine Laboratory, Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, 135 Duke Marine Lab Road, Beaufort, NC 28516-9721, USA (wff@duke.edu).
METAPOPULATION DYNAMICS IN MARINE VS. TERRESTRIAL SYSTEMS
S12-05 MASCIA, MICHAEL B. AAAS Fellow, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 223 Constitution Avenue NE, Washington, DC 20002, USA (mbm4@duke.edu).
FISH, FOWL, OR FOREST: DOES IT MATTER FOR CONSERVATION POLICY?
S12-01 CARR, MARK H., and James A. Estes. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA (carr@biology.ucsc.edu) (MHC); U.S. Geological Survey, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA (JAE).
COMPARING MARINE AND TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE DESIGN OF COASTAL MARINE RESERVES
Concepts and theory for the design and application of terrestrial reserves is based on our understanding of environmental, ecological and evolutionary processes responsible for biological diversity, sustainability of terrestrial ecosystems and how humans have influenced these processes. How well this terrestrial-based theory can be applied toward the design and application of reserves in the coastal marine environment depends, in part, on the degree of similarity between these systems. Several marked differences in ecological and evolutionary processes exist between marine and terrestrial ecosystems as ramifications of fundamental differences in their physical environments (i.e. the relative prevalence of air and water) and contemporary patterns of human impacts. Most notable, the great extent and rate of dispersal of nutrients, materials, holoplanktonic organisms and reproductive propagules of benthic organisms, expand scales of connectivity among nearshore communities and ecosystems. Consequently, the "openness" of marine populations, communities and ecosystems probably has marked influences on their spatial, genetic and trophic structures and dynamics in ways experienced by only some terrestrial species. Such differences appear to be particularly significant for the kinds of organisms most exploited and targeted for protection in coastal marine ecosystems (fishes and macroinvertebrates). These and other differences imply some unique design criteria and application of reserves in the marine environment.
S12-02 LUNDQUIST, CAROLYN J., Simon F. Thrush, and Judi E. Hewitt. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), Gate 10, Silverdale Road, PO Box 11-115, Hamilton, New Zealand (c.lundquist@niwa.co.nz).
USING LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY TO DEFINE THRESHOLDS OF RESISTANCE TO FISHING DISTURBANCE IN MARINE SYSTEMS
Disturbance regimes (i.e., hurricanes, forest fires) have been modeled using landscape ecology to determine spatially explicit management strategies for many terrestrial plant communities. In marine systems, fishing disturbances by trawling or dredging the seafloor create similar large habitat disturbances subject to recolonisation and successional processes. Marine soft sediment organisms create much of their habitat's biogenic structure, and often have widely dispersing larval forms; thus, the effects of disturbance differ from terrestrial systems to some degree. We created a landscape model of fishing disturbance to examine combined effects of spatial extent and frequency of disturbance events on community structure of a benthic subtidal ecosystem subject to fishing disturbance that reduces the biogenic structure to a pioneer community stage. We demonstrate the existence of thresholds in disturbance scales beyond which functional extinctions of later successional community stages are likely. Highly structured benthic habitats, such as bryozoan and sponge habitats, are more likely to be negatively impacted by high frequency or larger spatial scales of disturbance. Our research implies that recovery times from disturbances are slower than previously expected, and that spatial management of these disturbances can lead to the prevention of functional extinctions and increased biodiversity in benthic habitats.
S12-03 ROWELL, KIRSTEN, Karl W. Flessa, David L. Dettman, Martha Roman, and Jose Campoy. Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA (krowell@geo.arizona.edu) (KR, KWF, DLD); IMADES, Apdo. postal 452, San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora, C.P. 83449, Mexico (MR); CONANP/SEMARNAT, Apdo. postal 452, San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora, C.P. 83449, Mexico (JC).
DOUBLE THE TROUBLE: SUSTAINING MARINE AND RIVERINE PROCESSES IN THE ESTUARINE RESERVA DE LA BIOSFERA ALTO GOLFO DE CALIFORNIA Y DELTA DEL RIO COLORADO, MEXICO
The success of the Reserva de la Biosfera Alto Golfo de California y delta del Rio Colorado, Mexico depends on both regulating fishing practices and restoring riverine processes. Although fishing practices are an important cause of fishery declines and species endangerment in the northern Gulf of California, the lack of Colorado River flow to the 283,000 sq. km estuarine portion of this federally protected area has also affected commercial as well as non-commercial marine and estuarine species. In the absence of exhaustive sampling and monitoring data, we use oxygen isotopes to determine the role of river water in economically important and endemic fishes (threatened Cynoscion othonopterus and endangered Totoaba macdonaldi). Oxygen isotopes in the otoliths of these fish indicate that brackish water habitat is sought during these species' early life history. Similarly, the biogeography of the rare and endemic clam, Mulinia coloradoensis, is defined by the fresh water plume of the Colorado River. Fishing practices are not the only problem in this reserve; the lack of river flow is also an important issue. Estuarine reserves need to ensure natural river flow regimes as well as protect species from harmful fishing practices.
S12-04 FIGUEIRA, WILL F., and Larry B. Crowder. Duke University Marine Laboratory, Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, 135 Duke Marine Lab Road, Beaufort, NC 28516-9721, USA (wff@duke.edu).
METAPOPULATION DYNAMICS IN MARINE VS. TERRESTRIAL SYSTEMS
Spatial structure often plays an important role in the population dynamics of both terrestrial and aquatic organisms, so metapopulation theory has been applied to an ever broadening range of taxa. While the application of metapopulation theory is, in most cases, certainly justified, there are key differences in both the physical worlds of these two systems as well as in the life histories of the organisms which inhabit them that require special consideration. A brief review of the theory of metapopulations as formulated for terrestrial systems along with a summary of its use to date in marine systems makes it clear that the theory is applied differently to the two systems. In terrestrial systems, the emphasis is on habitat-level effects. By contrast most marine researchers focus on dispersal-level effects. These biases can lead to incorrect assumptions about both the transient and long-term dynamics of these systems and especially about the relative impacts that different habitat patches may have. We have developed conceptual and analytical models that serve to eliminate these biases and allow for a more integrated assessment of the contribution of particular patches to overall population dynamics. Our models allow us to understand and account for the differences in the physical and biological forces in these systems, so enabling the larger goal of understanding the role of spatial processes in the dynamics of these populations. Only with such knowledge can we expect to pursue the larger aim of successfully conserving and managing these valuable systems.
S12-05 MASCIA, MICHAEL B. AAAS Fellow, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 223 Constitution Avenue NE, Washington, DC 20002, USA (mbm4@duke.edu).
FISH, FOWL, OR FOREST: DOES IT MATTER FOR CONSERVATION POLICY?
A review of the social factors that influence the performance of conservation policies reveals strong consistencies across terrestrial and marine systems. Participatory decision-making arrangements, clear resource use rights, active and accountable monitoring and enforcement systems, and readily accessible conflict resolution mechanisms each foster conservation success. The more specific policies and practices necessary to conserve biodiversity vary not by whether the focal system is terrestrial or marine, but in accordance with its biological and social attributes (e.g., population growth rate, legal structure). Significant opportunities remain for additional conservation research – across both terrestrial and marine systems – to identify best practices that foster success. Integrating this knowledge into conservation efforts, however, will generally be a greater challenge in terrestrial systems because of the organizational and institutional inertia that is associated with longstanding terrestrial conservation laws and practices.
S14 Conservation Planning for
Wide-Ranging Species: Challenges and Strategies
S14-01 GOOD, THOMAS P., Paul McElhany, and Mary H. Ruckelshaus. Conservation Biology, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, 2725 Montlake Boulevard East, Seattle, WA 98112, USA (Tom.Good@noaa.gov).
CONSERVATION PLANNING FOR PACIFIC SALMONIDS: CROSSING ECOSYSTEM AND MANAGEMENT BOUNDARIES
S14-02 HEPPELL, SELINA S. Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, 104 Nash Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA (Selina.Heppell@oregonstate.edu).
LIFE HISTORY ANALYSIS FOR CONSERVATION AND RECOVERY PLANNING: LESSONS FROM THE SEA TURTLE 'SUCCESS' STORY
S14-03 BOERSMA, P. DEE. Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Box 351800, Seattle, WA 98195, USA (boersma@u.washington.edu).
PENGUINS, PEOPLE, POLLUTION, AND POLITICS; WHEN SCIENCE IS NOT ENOUGH
S14-04 BROWER, LINCOLN P. Department of Biology, Sweet Briar College, Sweet Briar, VA 24595, USA (brower@sbc.edu).
HISTORY AND PROSPECTS OF CONSERVATION EFFORTS TO PRESERVE THE OVERWINTERING SITES OF THE MONARCH BUTTERFLY IN MEXICO
S14-05 PAYNE, LAURA X., Brian A. Harrington, Julia K. Parrish, and Stanley A. Temple. Department of Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA (lxp@u.washington.edu) (LXP, SAT); School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA (LXP, JKP); Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, Manomet, MA 02345, USA (BAH).
CONSERVATION PLANNING FOR MIGRATORY BIRDS AT HEMISPHERIC AND CONTINENTAL SCALES: LESSONS FROM SHOREBIRDS
S14-06 GERBER, LEAH R., and Sascha K. Hooker. Department of Biology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA (leah.gerber@asu.edu) (LRG); Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 9LB, UK (SKH).
THE ROLE OF MARINE PROTECTED AREAS IN CONSERVING WIDE-RANGING SPECIES: IMPLICATIONS FOR DESIGN AND EFFICACY
S14-07 LANDON, LAURA, and David Mehlman. The Nature Conservancy, 4245 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 100, Arlington, VA 22203, USA (llandon@tnc.org).
INCORPORATING WIDE-RANGING SPECIES INTO ECOREGIONAL PLANNING
S14-01 GOOD, THOMAS P., Paul McElhany, and Mary H. Ruckelshaus. Conservation Biology, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, 2725 Montlake Boulevard East, Seattle, WA 98112, USA (Tom.Good@noaa.gov).
CONSERVATION PLANNING FOR PACIFIC SALMONIDS: CROSSING ECOSYSTEM AND MANAGEMENT BOUNDARIES
The 25 ESUs (Evolutionary Significant Units) of Pacific salmon and steelhead listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act span most of the major fresh-water ecosystems along the west coast of the United States. As a result of their well-known anadromous life history, individuals inhabit multiple ecosystems – the open ocean, coastal estuaries, major rivers, and montane and desert tributaries – exposing them to suites of physical and biological factors that affect their survival. Their wide-ranging habits also expose them to a variety of anthropogenic risk factors during their peregrinations, most notably from hydropower operations, ocean and freshwater harvest, habitat degradation, and the release of millions of hatchery-reared salmonids. Consequently, conservation and recovery efforts must be broad-based and require oversight and cooperation from federal, state, tribal, and private entities, which have different and often competing mandates. Technical Recovery Teams (TRT) comprised of agency scientists have been convened in several distinct geographic domains. We present results of TRT analyses that define essential populations, propose de-listing criteria, and evaluate catastrophic risk for listed salmonids. The results of these analyses will ultimately provide a scientific basis for recovery plans for Pacific salmonids, few of which have contended with impacts over such spatial scales.
S14-02 HEPPELL, SELINA S. Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, 104 Nash Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA (Selina.Heppell@oregonstate.edu).
LIFE HISTORY ANALYSIS FOR CONSERVATION AND RECOVERY PLANNING: LESSONS FROM THE SEA TURTLE 'SUCCESS' STORY
Nearly all sea turtles cross international boundaries, either through migration corridors or ontogenetic shifts. The continued recovery of many sea turtle populations in the southeastern U.S. is thought to be due to regulations that require Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) on shrimp trawls that reduce incidental mortality. Policy decisions by the National Marine Fisheries Service were greatly influenced by the results of relatively simple population models that suggested a need to focus management on large turtles, rather than eggs and hatchlings. Because we rarely have the luxury of fine scale demographic data to make management decisions for threatened species, it is important to develop general guidelines that account for differences in species' life history and population dynamics. But because these are general guidelines, they should not serve as quantitative predictors of population response, nor should they release agencies from their obligation to monitor and research populations to parameterize better models. To illustrate, I will discuss the uses and abuses of elasticity analysis, a method used to examine the effects of perturbations on populations.
S14-03 BOERSMA, P. DEE. Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Box 351800, Seattle, WA 98195, USA (boersma@u.washington.edu).
PENGUINS, PEOPLE, POLLUTION, AND POLITICS; WHEN SCIENCE IS NOT ENOUGH
Magellanic penguins are rapidly declining at Punta Tombo, Argentina the largest breeding colony in the world for this species. For twenty years we have intensively studied the breeding biology, reproductive success, and foraging patterns of this colony. In the 1980's the Japanese proposed harvesting the species but fortunately because of public pressure the harvest was delayed to gather scientific information on the species. In the 1980's and 1990's we documented severe mortality on penguins from oil pollution and it's impact on the population. Oil pollution in Argentina was reduced but oiling appears to have increased in Brazil and Uruguay. Magellanic penguins like most seabirds are wide-ranging and cross country borders. Their protection is hampered by human activities including fishing and discharge of oil. Ocean zoning to reduce conflicts with human uses would be useful; however, the scientific data needed is often lacking. We have much of the information needed to recommend zoning for Magellanic penguins. One major obstacle is that penguins and most seabirds use international waters and the EZE of several countries. International conventions are vehicles that may help penguins and other seabirds but the political process needed to list a species under UN Conventions is daunting and protection weak.
S14-04 BROWER, LINCOLN P. Department of Biology, Sweet Briar College, Sweet Briar, VA 24595, USA (brower@sbc.edu).
HISTORY AND PROSPECTS OF CONSERVATION EFFORTS TO PRESERVE THE OVERWINTERING SITES OF THE MONARCH BUTTERFLY IN MEXICO
It was evident upon discovering the overwintering sites of the monarch butterfly in Mexico that the migration of the eastern North American migratory population was an endangered biological phenomenon. Field research established that all overwintering habitats occur on 12 isolated mountain massifs, occupying less than 100 by 100 km in the Transverse Neovolcanic Range, west of Mexico City. Efforts by the scientific community, the World Wildlife Fund and a local NGO in Mexico resulted in a Presidential Decree in 1986 that partially protected 16,110 hectares of forest. WWF, in cooperation with the Mexican Government, documented that the geographic area protected by the 1986 decree was inadequate, that forest degradation was accelerating, and that more detailed biological parameters needed to be taken into account to provide better long term protection. This resulted in a new, revised Presidential Decree in November 2000 that increased the protected area to 56,259 hectares and wedded implementation of the plan with economic compensation, made possible by the Packard Foundation. All is not well, however, because illegal tree harvesting is rampant. The biological reasons why large areas of intact forest are critical to the long term survival of the migratory phenomenon will be presented, as will recent collaborative GIS studies with the University of Mexico and NASA.
S14-05 PAYNE, LAURA X., Brian A. Harrington, Julia K. Parrish, and Stanley A. Temple. Department of Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA (lxp@u.washington.edu) (LXP, SAT); School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA (LXP, JKP); Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, Manomet, MA 02345, USA (BAH).
CONSERVATION PLANNING FOR MIGRATORY BIRDS AT HEMISPHERIC AND CONTINENTAL SCALES: LESSONS FROM SHOREBIRDS
Conservation planning for migratory birds in the Western Hemisphere has progressed substantially in recent years, including the development of a formalized decision-making process through which to assign conservation priorities to all bird species in all regions of North America. Despite its fundamental importance, this step is difficult to implement in practice because species may have conflicting habitat requirements. Traditional efforts to accommodate conflicting habitat needs have relied on local solutions (e.g., site-based management). However, technical advances for examining processes at large scales (e.g., stable isotopes, spatial and behavioral modeling) offer powerful insights for conservation planning. We use 20 years of shorebird surveys from >1,000 inland and coastal wetlands in the conterminous United States to quantify, using heterogeneity indices, the spatial patterns of 35 species of shorebirds during migration. Our results show that species with similar ecological habits use the continent in diverse ways. Further, a habitat- or energetically-based approach to shorebird conservation may fall short if socio-spatial context is ignored. We suggest ways of incorporating large-scale information into conservation planning, recognizing that as local habitat conditions (though not land ownership) may shift in response to global warming, planning must match the very large scales at which birds use the landscape.
S14-06 GERBER, LEAH R., and Sascha K. Hooker. Department of Biology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA (leah.gerber@asu.edu) (LRG); Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 9LB, UK (SKH).
THE ROLE OF MARINE PROTECTED AREAS IN CONSERVING WIDE-RANGING SPECIES: IMPLICATIONS FOR DESIGN AND EFFICACY
Recently there has been significant attention given to the establishment of marine reserves, with most of the focus of research directed at economically-valuable (i.e. mid-trophic level) species. Some of the lessons learned from these reserves have now been widely accepted (e.g., bigger is better, dispersal matters). However, one of the most interesting questions to emerge from the initial exploration of marine reserve design theory is the significance of life history characteristics. We review issues concerning the ecology of higher predators and their relevance for marine zoning and reserve design and selection. Marine predators are tempting political figureheads for ocean conservation planning, and are often used to promote reserve designation. We examine whether their ecology and life history can help provide a rigorous ecological foundation for marine reserve design. In general we find both that reserves can benefit marine megafauna, and that marine megafauna can help establish target areas and boundaries for ecosystem reserves. Modeling tools such as demographic sensitivity analysis will aid in establishment of protection for different life-stages and distributional ranges. The need for pelagic marine reserves is becoming increasingly apparent, and it is in this venue that marine predators are likely to be most effectively used as indicator species of underlying prey distribution and ecosystem processes.
S14-07 LANDON, LAURA, and David Mehlman. The Nature Conservancy, 4245 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 100, Arlington, VA 22203, USA (llandon@tnc.org).
INCORPORATING WIDE-RANGING SPECIES INTO ECOREGIONAL PLANNING
The Nature Conservancy's first step in the conservation process is to identify a portfolio of conservation areas that if conserved will represent the biodiversity of an ecoregion. However, the ecology and movements of wide-ranging groups such as anadromous fish, large carnivores and other terrestrial mammals, migratory birds, and some insects are difficult to incorporate into an area-based conservation planning process in ecoregion-sized units. While the Conservancy has developed an overall methodology for developing ecoregional plans, a consistent and conceptual framework for incorporating wide-ranging species and into these plans does not currently exist. Therefore, less than half of the ecoregional plans developed by the Conservancy incorporate wide-ranging species into first iteration plans. Some methodologies to address this problem in ecoregional plans are being tested, such as using habitat models based on field observations of target species (wide-ranging carnivores), coordinated planning across multiple ecoregions for the same conservation targets (migratory birds), and addressing wide-ranging species in intact ecoregions. We summarize the Conservancy's recent and on-going efforts to incorporate wide-ranging species into ecoregional plans and propose a methodological approach for future planning efforts.
S15-01 Ballantine, Bill, and TIMOTHY LANGLOIS. Leigh Marine Laboratory, University of Auckland, Box 349, Warkworth, New Zealand (b.ballantine@auckland.ac.nz).
A REVIEW OF FULLY-PROTECTED MARINE RESERVES: THE LONG ROAD TO PRINCIPLES AND SYSTEMS
S15-02 POMEROY, CAROLINE. Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, Earth and Marine Sciences Building A 316, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA (cpomeroy@ucsc.edu).
SOCIAL, CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS FOR MARINE RESERVE DESIGN
S15-03 CASTILLA, JUAN CARLOS. Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 114-D, Santiago, CP 6513667, Chile (jcastill@genes.bio.puc.cl).
CHILEAN "CALETAS" AND ASSOCIATED MANAGEMENT AND EXPLOITATION AREAS FOR BENTHIC RESOURCES AS TOOLS TO EVALUATE THE BENEFIT OF MARINE RESERVES
S15-04 BUSTAMANTE, RODRIGO, Andrew Tyre, and Alan Butler. Northern Fisheries and Torres Strait Ecosystems, CSIRO Marine Research, PO Box 120, Cleveland, QLD 4163, Australia (rodrigo.bustamante@csiro.au) (RHB, AB); School of Natural Resource Sciences, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583-0819, USA (AT).
PROCESSES FOR IDENTIFYING AND CHOOSING MARINE RESERVES: A COMPARISON OF CONSERVATION STRATEGIES IN THE GALÁPAGOS ISLANDS AND AUSTRALIA
S15-05 MARNANE, MICHAEL, Joshua Cinner, Tracy Clark, William Kiene, and Tim McClanahan. Wildlife Conservation Society, Asia Pacific Coral Reef Program, TESAG Department, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4810, Australia (jcinner@wcs.org) (MM, JC, TC); Wildlife Conservation Society, Indonesia Program, Jl. Pangrango #8, Bogor, Indonesia (WK); Wildlife Conservation Society, Coral Reef Conservation Project, Kibaki Flats #12, Bamburi, Kenyatta Beach, PO Box 99470, Mombasa, Kenya (TM).
CONSERVATION BENEFITS OF TRADITIONAL CORAL REEF MANAGEMENT: A CASE STUDY FROM AHUS ISLAND, MANUS PROVINCE, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
S15-06 FERNANDEZ, MIRIAM. Estación Costera de Investigaciones Marinas and Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity, Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 114-D, Santiago, CP 6513667, Chile (mfernand@genes.bio.puc.cl).
MARINE RESERVES IN CHILE: THE EXPERIENCE OF LAS CRUCES AND NEW CHALLENGES
S15-07 HARRIS, JEAN M., Sandile Sibiya, George Branch, Scotty Kyle, Ronnie Brereton-Stiles, and Gugu Zama. Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife, Private Bag X3, Congella, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal 4013, South Africa (jmharris@iafrica.com) (JMH, SS, SK); University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa (GB, RBS, GZ).
INTEGRATING TRADITIONAL FISHERIES IN MARINE PROTECTED AREA MANAGEMENT: CO-MANAGEMENT CASES STUDIES IN SOUTH AFRICA
S15-01 Ballantine, Bill, and TIMOTHY LANGLOIS. Leigh Marine Laboratory, University of Auckland, Box 349, Warkworth, New Zealand (b.ballantine@auckland.ac.nz).
A REVIEW OF FULLY-PROTECTED MARINE RESERVES: THE LONG ROAD TO PRINCIPLES AND SYSTEMS
Fully-protected marine reserves have been established in most biogeographic provinces, and in most ecosystems and habitats, but such reserves are still rare and their total area is trivial. Many reasons have been used to promote full-protected areas including science, education, conservation, recreation, tourism, and fisheries support or restoration. The key question is why progress on such a simple idea is so slow, despite many known benefits and plenty of successful examples. Most reserves to date have been small, isolated events, generated by special local concerns, but recently interest in systems has developed and two systems have been established (in Victoria, Australia and around the Channel Islands, California). The whole history of marine reserves suggests they can be established anywhere, provided those concerned stop relying on what they know and focus on scientific principles that apply independently of our knowledge. The move to systems makes this easier (both scientifically and politically). The relevant principles required are clear and already accepted. A marine reserve system should be a representative network sufficient to be self-sustaining. A scientific insistence of these principles would encourage elected politicians to act.
S15-02 POMEROY, CAROLINE. Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, Earth and Marine Sciences Building A 316, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA (cpomeroy@ucsc.edu).
SOCIAL, CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS FOR MARINE RESERVE DESIGN
Marine reserves have garnered considerable interest as a tool for ocean resource management. Whether intended primarily for the conservation of biodiversity and broad ecosystem management, or specifically for fishery management, the marine reserve design process requires scientific information on the biophysical and human environments, and the interaction between them. Yet while the biophysical dimensions of marine reserves have received considerable attention, their human dimensions have been neglected. The human dimensions include social, cultural and economic features such as use patterns; values, attitudes and beliefs; community organization and local institutions; and social, cultural and economic costs and benefits. Evidence from case studies in California, St. Lucia, the Philippines and elsewhere suggests that this imbalance contributes to the difficulties, and in some cases failure, of efforts to design effective marine reserves. Specifically, inadequate attention to the human dimensions in the decision-making process and in the design, implementation, management and evaluation processes have contributed to these problems. In contrast, where human dimensions information has been consciously and meaningfully integrated into marine reserve decision-making and design processes, those processes have resulted in a constructive and supported process, and the designation of marine reserves capable of achieving their goals.
S15-03 CASTILLA, JUAN CARLOS. Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 114-D, Santiago, CP 6513667, Chile (jcastill@genes.bio.puc.cl).
CHILEAN "CALETAS" AND ASSOCIATED MANAGEMENT AND EXPLOITATION AREAS FOR BENTHIC RESOURCES AS TOOLS TO EVALUATE THE BENEFIT OF MARINE RESERVES
Definition of Marine Protected Areas (MPA) vary widely. "The Marine Reserve Task Group", SANCOR, South Africa (1997) recognized 4 types: Sanctuary (full protection), Marine Reserve (protection for majority of species, allowing certain species to be harvested), Fishery Reserve (protection of single species) and Marine Park (any zoning allowing a mixture of the three). In Chile there is 20-year experience with the implementation of Marine Reserves linked to the rational management of benthic resources. They are known as "Management and Exploitation Areas" (MEAs) for benthic resources. MEAs are co-management units where Territorial Users Rights in Fisheries are allocated exclusively to fisher communities, known as "Caletas." Fishery and ecosystem regulations, based on species sustainable management plans and restrictions to alter/modify the biota/environment, exist. Pilot studies have demonstrated MEAs' benefits in the enhancement of fishery yields and export of larvae. MEAs' have been selected based on social acceptance, urgency and socio-economical aspects. They have proven effective in the implementation of sustainable co-management plans and positive changes in resource/ecosystem user's perceptions. In Chile MEAs may be seen as the first step leading to the transformation of people-reserve (parks) conflicts into mutual beneficial relationships and bridging conservation and management issues.
S15-04 BUSTAMANTE, RODRIGO, Andrew Tyre, and Alan Butler. Northern Fisheries and Torres Strait Ecosystems, CSIRO Marine Research, PO Box 120, Cleveland, QLD 4163, Australia (rodrigo.bustamante@csiro.au) (RHB, AB); School of Natural Resource Sciences, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583-0819, USA (AT).
PROCESSES FOR IDENTIFYING AND CHOOSING MARINE RESERVES: A COMPARISON OF CONSERVATION TRATEGIES IN THE GALÁPAGOS ISLANDS AND AUSTRALIA
We compare the experience of two cases of marine conservation that differed in their procedures, targets and spatial scales. Zoning of the Galapagos Marine Reserve (~133,000 km2) was implemented considering the interests and needs of different user groups. Delphic approaches were used for biodiversity and biogeographic information, as well as complementarity-like criteria achieving protection of nearly 20% of coasts. A-posteriori assessment revealed that zoning has to be modified to achieve representative conservation. By contrast, in the south-east of Australia (~2.1 million km2) the establishment of a representative system of MPAs in deep water began with an analytical approach, using biophysical data as surrogates for biodiversity to represent each bioregional unit in a system of MPAs; the selection procedure was repeated many times and a Delphic consideration of the resultant selection frequencies was used to identify broad geographical areas of interest for further consideration. A multi stakeholder Delphic and decision-support process is currently identifying and selecting specific MPAs within the broad areas. The problems encountered were: limited consideration of nature and extent of the spatial and temporal variability of marine biodiversity, lack of fine-scale habitat and species data, and inability to articulate ecosystem processes into the conservation schemes.
S15-05 MARNANE, MICHAEL, Joshua Cinner, Tracy Clark, William Kiene, and Tim McClanahan. Wildlife Conservation Society, Asia Pacific Coral Reef Program, TESAG Department, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4810, Australia (jcinner@wcs.org) (MM, JC, TC); Wildlife Conservation Society, Indonesia Program, Jl. Pangrango #8, Bogor, Indonesia (WK); Wildlife Conservation Society, Coral Reef Conservation Project, Kibaki Flats #12, Bamburi, Kenyatta Beach, PO Box 99470, Mombasa, Kenya (TM).
CONSERVATION BENEFITS OF TRADITIONAL CORAL REEF MANAGEMENT: A CASE STUDY FROM AHUS ISLAND, MANUS PROVINCE, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
There is increasing debate as to whether traditional resource management practices by local communities in the Pacific Basin help conserve coastal and marine ecosystems. Previous studies in this area have been largely conflicting and inconclusive. This study explored the conservation benefits associated with traditional reef management practices at Ahus Island, off the north coast of Manus Island, Papua New Guinea. For generations, Ahus Islanders have prohibited spear and net fishing within six small reef areas. However, each of the restricted areas may be harvested with spears and nets to provide fish for a ceremonial occasion up to three times per year. Fish and coral communities were examined inside and outside a restricted area before and after a periodic harvesting event. Although the harvesting techniques caused some damage to corals, results indicate that the system was effective in increasing reef fish biomass inside the reserve. When compared to other management regimes in Papua New Guinea, this system did not meet as many conservation goals, but was able to fulfill utilitarian community goals with minimal social and spatial displacement of fishing effort.
S15-06 FERNANDEZ, MIRIAM. Estación Costera de Investigaciones Marinas and Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity, Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 114-D, Santiago, CP 6513667, Chile (mfernand@genes.bio.puc.cl).
MARINE RESERVES IN CHILE: THE EXPERIENCE OF LAS CRUCES AND NEW CHALLENGES
Empirical evidence of the benefits of marine protected areas in Chile comes mainly from the Marine Reserve of Las Cruces and Mehuin, two initiatives supported for more than 20 years by Chilean Universities and scientists. The increase in abundance and size of several exploited benthic invertebrate species and the concurrent changes in the communities have not only served to show the benefit of protected areas for conservation purposes, but also to implement novel management strategies. More recently, a few more areas have been protected through government, universities, and private initiatives. However, national efforts to create marine protected areas do not keep pace with the increasing use of the marine environment. Socioeconomic and political pressure have not helped to revert this trend. Substantial social, political and scientific efforts are needed to improve existing information and establish a network of marine protected areas along the 4000 kilometers of coastline of Chile. Further studies focusing on patterns of biodiversity and the effect of different kinds of human impact on marine diversity are urgently needed. More efforts need also to be directed to the understanding of the potential for dispersal of marine organisms along the coast of Chile, to assure connectivity among protected areas.
S15-07 HARRIS, JEAN M., Sandile Sibiya, George Branch, Scotty Kyle, Ronnie Brereton-Stiles, and Gugu Zama. Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife, Private Bag X3, Congella, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal 4013, South Africa (jmharris@iafrica.com) (JMH, SS, SK); University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa (GB, RBS, GZ).
INTEGRATING TRADITIONAL FISHERIES IN MARINE PROTECTED AREA MANAGEMENT: CO-MANAGEMENT CASES STUDIES IN SOUTH AFRICA
Traditional fisher perceptions of, and relationships with, marine protected areas in South Africa are complex and are tainted by a past of politically driven unequal access to natural resources. This history is overlain on strong cultural practices and indigenous knowledge around resource use. High poverty levels and a dependence on natural resources for basic food security in areas adjacent to marine protected areas (MPAs), has led to increasing demand on resources inside the MPAs and conflict between communities and authorities. This paper briefly outlines the shift in South Africa to legally recognise and formalise traditional fisheries, and to develop management systems and sustainable harvesting strategies for these previously outlawed activities. It highlights a number of case-studies on the east coast of South Africa that attempt to engage the authorities of MPAs and traditional fishers in joint management and decision-making processes. Successes and failures, are reported and the associated factors explored. The model of co-management as an option for dealing with conflict and unsustainable resource use, and improving the biodiversity integrity, and value to communities, of MPAs is critically evaluated.