Clear Signs Of Recovery Research Articles

Increasing Population Status of Broad-Snouted Caiman (Caiman latirostris) Based on Sustainable Use Strategies in a Managed Protected Area in Santa Fe, Argentina.

People and crocodilians have engaged in interactions since the earliest human settlements. After many years of escalating non-regulated use, coupled with emerging threats such as habitat modification, environmental pollution, and the exponential growth of human populations, natural crocodilian populations have been pushed to the brink of extinction. To prevent this, various initiatives have implemented strategies to prevent local extinction. Reinforcing wild populations through reintroductions and head-starting programs has been considered the safest approach to recovering crocodilian populations. Subsequently, the concept of sustainability emerged. In the case of many historically exploited crocodilian species, it became evident that rational utilization need not adversely affect population status; on the contrary, there were clear signs of recovery when local communities were involved. In 1990, the broad-snouted caiman (Caiman latirostris) was in a critical state due to decades of poaching and the aforementioned threats. In response, the "Monitoring and restocking program of the broad-snouted caiman for management purposes", commonly known as Proyecto Yacaré, was established to study population abundance and assess the biological, ecological, and social response to this management methodology. As a result of the eggs's harvest, a proportion equivalent to or greater than what would have survived in natural conditions was released into the original habitat where the eggs were collected. The surplus was allocated for leather and meat production with a focus on economic and environmentally sustainable practices, without affecting biodiversity or threats to the managed species. The in situ work carried out by this program has been crucial for the recovery of broad-snouted caiman populations under the "incentives for conservation" system, whereby local communities receive benefits for nest identification and egg harvesting. Over time, conservation incentives have become significant contributors to regional economies. This study illustrates how C. latirostris populations increased due to the implementation of egg harvesting by local communities in a natural reserve for management purposes. This population increase was detected through continuous night monitoring and an analysis of the number of nests in the area. Currently, C. latirostris populations have transitioned from being among the most threatened to becoming one of the most abundant throughout their distribution area. Based on the analyzed information, we may affirm that the commercial value of these species is one of the most relevant aspects contributing to the sustainability of these programs, primarily due to the change in perception generated among local communities. Therefore, identifying and controlling factors affecting these programs are fundamental for the conservation of these species.

Apportionment of long-term trends in different sections of total ozone column over tropical region.

Theadditive time-series decomposition analysis was performed on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Instrument Merge satellite dataset version 8.6 for the period January 1979 to December 2019 with an objective to detect and apportion long-term trends present in the total ozone column (TOC) and the long-term trends exist in the respective ozone contents present in the vertical sub-columns constituting the TOC viz. upper, middle and lower stratosphere as well as near-surface for the tropical region. Linear regression analysis was performed on the deseasonalized monthly mean time series of TOC and corresponding ozone contents present in each partitioned layer for three different time spans, viz. 1979-2019 (complete time series), 1979-1998 (pre-inflection years), and 1999-2019 (post-inflection years), where 1998 was taken as inflection year. For the complete time-series, statistically significant negative trends were observed in TOC and corresponding ozone contents in the sub-columns over most of the tropical region. Expectedly, during pre-inflection years, strong negative trends were noted for TOC and ozone contents in the partitioned vertical layers. In contrast, during the post-inflection year time span, long-term trends in TOC were statistically insignificant over two-third of the tropical region, but one-third of the subtropical region exhibited negative trends in TOC. During this time span, positive trends were observed in the ozone contents present in the upper stratospheric sub-column. However, negative trends in ozone contents persisted in the middle and the lower stratosphere. It wasinterestingto note that the ozone contents confined in near-surface layer manifested strong negative trends during pre-inflection years and the same reversed into strong positive trends that in post-inflection span. The observed, contrasting, long-term trends and variability in the respective partitioned layer of the TOC confounded any clear sign of recovery in the TOC over the tropical region. The continuation of declining trends in the middle stratosphere and increasing trends in the near-surface layer of ozone contents is a matter of concern.

Loss of New Ideas: Potentially Long-lasting Effects of the Pandemic on Scientists

Extensive research has documented the immediate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on scientists, yet it remains unclear if and how such impacts have shifted over time. Here we compare results from two surveys of principal investigators, conducted between April 2020 and January 2021, along with analyses of large-scale publication data. We find that there has been a clear sign of recovery in some regards, as scientists’ time spent on their work has almost returned to pre-pandemic levels. However, the latest data also reveals a new dimension in which the pandemic is affecting the scientific workforce: the rate of initiating new research projects. Except for the small fraction of scientists who directly engaged in COVID-related research, most scientists started significantly fewer new research projects in 2020. This decline is most pronounced amongst the same demographic groups of scientists who reported the largest initial disruptions: female scientists and those with young children. Yet in sharp contrast to the earlier phase of the pandemic, when there were large disparities across scientific fields, this loss of new projects appears remarkably homogeneous across fields. Analyses of large-scale publication data reveal a global decline in the rate of new collaborations, especially in non-COVID-related preprints, which is consistent with the reported decline in new projects. Overall, these findings highlight that, while the end of the pandemic may appear in sight in some countries, its large and unequal impact on the scientific workforce may be enduring, which may have broad implications for inequality and the long-term vitality of science.

Vietnam's International Trade is Showing Signs of Recovery After the COVID-19 Pandemic

On a global scale, Vietnam is a low-middle income country with a high openness and effective export-oriented trade model. This article analyses the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on Vietnam’s trade in 2020. The analysis, which is based on reports and data collected from international organisations and governmental bodies (notably the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ministry of Industry and Trade, and General Department of Vietnam Customs), highlights how Vietnam’s import and export situation has been affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic, and gives some major recommendations for the post-pandemic period. In specific, the article focuses on analysing changes in trade balance, import-export turnover, major trade partners of Vietnam, and USD/VND exchange rate. Research results show that, although Vietnam’s trade has been affected by the pandemic in some ways, in general, the trade balance is not affected much, and there is a clear sign of recovery in Q3/2020 thanks to the effectiveness of government’s responses to the pandemic. On that basis, this study provides a number of solutions to the increased efficiency of Vietnam’s trade in the coming time.

Estimates of population growth rates of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the wintering grounds off the coast of Brazil (Breeding Stock A)

Humpback whales wintering off the eastern coast of Brazil were heavily exploited by commercial whaling in the Southern Hemisphere. During recent years, clear signs of recovery have been observed, but few estimates of population growth rate exist. In this study, quantitative estimates of rates of population increase are obtained from sighting per unit of effort data (1995–98) using generalised linear models and maximum likelihood estimation. The error distributions considered for the models were Poisson and negative binomial. Predictors of the number of sightings included the year, month and 2-week periods during which the sightings were made. Predictors were treated as factors or numeric variables. For the numeric variables, quadratic dependence was also considered for each predictor to allow for possible non-linear relationships. Using Akaike Information Criterion (AICc) as a model selection criterion, the best model included year and month as continuous predictors. The data indicated strong support for the negative binomial over the Poisson models, but did not support models based on a finer temporal scale than month. Assuming year to be a linear predictor, the best estimate of the growth rate for the population wintering off Brazil was 7.4% per year (95% CI = 0.6–14.5%) during the period 1995–98. This estimate provides additional quantitative evidence that this population has been increasing and is consistent with the observed growth rates of other humpback whale stocks.

Quantifying the rare: Baselines for the endangered Napoleon Wrasse, Cheilinus undulatus, and implications for conservation

Abstract The Napoleon wrasse, an endangered fish (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix II, 2004), is a valuable component of the Chinese live reef fish trade. Only Indonesia legally exports up to 2000 Napoleon fish annually, with each fish weighing between 1 and 3 kg. Information on natural abundance and fish sizes was required to determine sustainable export quotas. Hence, an underwater visual survey method, using GPS‐based multi‐kilometre transects, was tailored for this uncommon wide‐ranging fish. Transects totalling 430 km were run between 2005 and 2016 at nine locations. Six locations were resurveyed between six and nine years later, which was long enough to allow for recruitment and maturation. Fish density and sizes across locations were inversely related to fishing intensity, and densities increased significantly between surveys. Low density (0.04‐0.86 fish hectare‐1) and few adult‐sized fish were in heavily fished locations. Higher densities occurred (0.86‐4.0 fish hectare‐1) in lightly/unfished locations, where evidence of recruitment was also seen. Nowhere were many male-sized (>1 m long) fish present. At Karas Is., where fishing ceased between surveys, clear sign of recovery was seen after 9 years. Comparison of survey data from 11 Indo‐Pacific countries indicated that in Indonesia adult densities were lower at comparable levels of fishing pressure than elsewhere. Densities of 5 fish hectare−1 or more are more typical of lightly fished or unfished areas across the Pacific, which is greater than the highest density of 4 fish hectare−1 noted in this study at Banda Islands. Low densities of the species, despite the presence of adult‐sized fish, in Bunaken Marine Park probably reflects the continuance of fishing both within and adjacent to the park. Conservation options include improved implementation of CITES regulations by Indonesia, through tighter export controls and the tagging of legally exported fish, the activation of the National Plan of Action, a temporary moratorium to restore reproductive capacity, and more marine protected areas.

Seriatopora Diversity Preserved in Upper Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems in Southern Japan

Coral reefs worldwide are facing increasing stress due to drastic changes in their environment. Mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) have been considered as a potential refuge from several major stressors, such as warm-water bleaching events. However, their role as a subsequent source of larvae remains unclear for many species, particularly as genetic differentiation of corals over depth has frequently been observed. In 1998 and 2001, two severe bleaching events around Okinawa Island in Japan resulted in major changes to the shallow reefs, including the local “extinction” of species such as Seriatopora hystrix at Sesoko Island. However, recently this species was found to be present in abundance at mesophotic depths in the area, despite no clear signs of recovery being observed in the adjacent shallow waters. Here, we assessed the genetic diversity of Seriatopora from this deep population and provide a comparison with populations from shallow to mesophotic depths in other parts of the Ryukyu archipelago, to understand their depth specificity and their importance in genetic diversity conservation of affected shallow populations. High levels of genetic diversity were observed in both shallow and mesophotic Seriatopora populations for both the nuclear (internal transcribed spacer 2, ITS2) and the mitochondrial (hypervariable open reading frame, ORF) marker, with no clear partitioning of haplotypes over depth or across locations in the archipelago. Both ITS2 and ORF suggest the presence of potential cryptic species and the discrepancy between the markers could reflect hybridization or incomplete lineage sorting. Although associated endosymbionts (Symbiodinium spp.) all shared the same mitochondrial haplotype (cytochrome oxidase subunit 1, COI), the nuclear ribosomal ITS2 revealed slight potential habitat partitioning between the genotypes, with a small decrease of C59 Symbiodinium types below 10 m depth and a mirrored increase in C1/C78a-related types. The relative absence of depth-specific host lineages and the substantial overlap between shallow and deep Symbiodinium types indicate that Okinawan MCEs may act as a refuge preserving genotypic diversity of bleaching-sensitive coral such as Seriatopora, and on the long-term may have the potential to contribute to shallow-water recolonization of this species.

Acidification Remediation Alternatives: Exploring the Temporal Dimension with Cost Benefit Analysis

Acidification of soils and surface waters caused by acid deposition is still a major problem in southern Scandinavia, despite clear signs of recovery. Besides emission control, liming of lakes, streams, and wetlands is currently used to ameliorate acidification in Sweden. An alternative strategy is forest soil liming to restore the acidified upland soils from which much acidified runoff originates. This cost-benefit analysis compared these liming strategies with a special emphasis on the time perspective for expected benefits. Benefits transfer was used to estimate use values for sport ffishing and nonuse values in terms of existence values. The results show that large-scale forest soil liming is not socioeconomically profitable, while lake liming is, if it is done efficiently-in other words, if only acidified surface waters are treated. The beguiling logic of "solving" an environmental problem at its source (soils), rather than continuing to treat the symptoms (surface waters), is thus misleading.

Corporate Financial Policies and Performance around Currency Crises

This paper studies firm‐level leverage and performance measures before and after a currency crisis, using data from 17 countries. We show that, prior to a crisis, companies that expect to benefit from currency depreciations increase their leverage more than companies that are expected to be harmed by the depreciation. Profitability and financial fragility ratios display consistent patterns. We provide evidence that the Asian crisis is different from the previous European and Latin American ones: In Asia, all firms become more fragile after the crisis and their profitability declines and leverage increases further, whereas elsewhere there are clear signs of recovery after a crisis occurs.

A new method for describing long‐term changes in total ozone

A new method for describing long‐term changes in total ozone was developed so that variations on time scales greater than that of the QBO may be examined. The technique fits a flexible tendency curve to total ozone data after explained variations have been removed. The derivative of the tendency curve is the growth rate curve. The average along this curve is comparable to total ozone trends reported in the past. Statistical uncertainty of the growth rate is determined using bootstrap techniques. Dobson column ozone measurements with long‐term (30+ years) records from the NOAA/CMDL Cooperative Dobson Network were analyzed. Total ozone decreases ranged from 1‐2%/decade since the 1960s and from 2‐4%/decade since 1979 at all sites except Mauna Loa where results were not significant. The tendency curves indicate that the total ozone decline began in the 1970s and that there are no clear signs of recovery as of the end of 2000.

Corporate Financial Policies and Performance Around Currency Crises

Using data from 20 countries that have suffered a currency crisis, this paper studies firm-level leverage and performance before and after a crisis has occurred. First we provide some evidence of increasing leverage both before and after a crisis. We show that, in the years preceding a currency crisis, companies that benefit from currency depreciations increase their leverage more than companies that are harmed by currency depreciations. These findings do not hold for countries with either floating exchange rates or currency boards. We argue that increasing leverage is a sign that some firms behave strategically towards governments that lack commintment mechanisms not to devalue their currencies. We also provide evidence that the Asian crisis is different from the previous European and Latin American ones: in Asia firms become more fragile after the crisis and their profitability declines further, whereas in Europe and Latin America there are clear signs of recovery after a crisis has occurred.

HABITAT-SPECIFIC RECOVERY OF SHALLOW SUBTIDAL COMMUNITIES FOLLOWING THEEXXON VALDEZOIL SPILL

We contrasted impacts of the Exxon Valdez oil spill within kelp and eelgrass communities and examined recovery of these communities over a period of up to 10 yr after the spill. Impacts were greatest in sheltered bays that were subject to heavy oiling. The effects of oiling and associated cleanup activities on nearshore subtidal communities within these bays were more evident in eelgrass than in kelp habitats. In 1990, a year after the spill, concentrations of total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (TPAHs) were higher, more groups of organisms were impacted, and more groups showed a negative response to oil (i.e., lower densities at oiled vs. reference sites) in eelgrass than in kelp beds. Recovery was slower in eelgrass than in kelp habitats. About 80% of the groups impacted in eelgrass beds failed to show clear signs of recovery by 1995, six years after the spill. In contrast, most impacted groups in kelp beds recovered within two years. The stronger, more persistent impacts in eelgrass beds were probab...

The recovery of benthic communities along the County Durham coast after cessation of colliery spoil dumping

Large amounts of coal tailings and minestone have been dumped off the County Durham coast since at least the beginning of the twentieth century. Three sites which have been subjected to colliery waste dumping were studied to assess the effect of the waste on the marine benthos, and the degree of recovery of the benthic communities after the cessation of dumping. A control site was chosen to the north of the impacted sites and presumed to be unaffected by dumping operations. At each site three replicate grabs were taken for macrofaunal analysis and one for sediment analysis (sand-silt ratio and percentage coal by loss on ignition). The colliery waste appears to have had an effect on the benthic fauna present, indicated by the multidimensional scaling (MDS) configurations, which showed a clear separation between the control and the three sites subjected to dumping. The highest diversity was at Easington (6 months after the cessation of dumping) followed by Blackhall and the control, with the lowest at Horden. This suggests that the level of disturbance is such as to result in an increase in diversity of the affected sites. There were clear signs of recovery from the effects of mine waste dumping at Horden 7 1 2 years after the cessation of dumping, although at Blackhall the community is still perturbed 12 1 2 years after the cessation of dumping. This is probably caused by the prevailing southbound current transporting coal waste down to this site, where it appears to accumulate.