Use Of Ecological Information Research Articles

Distribution, spread and habitat preferences of nutria (Myocastor coypus) invading the lower Nakdong River, South Korea

Nutria (Myocastor coypus) were introduced into South Korea in 1985 for fur farming and meat production. However, failures of nutria farm management in the late 1990s resulted in the accidental and/or intentional release of nutria into the wild, and they have spread and become serious pests. The successful management of invasive species like nutria somewhat depends on the comprehensive knowledge of distribution patterns. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the distribution, spread, and habitat preferences of nutria invading the lower Nakdong River in South Korea to facilitate current control and eradication endeavours. Nutria populations were recorded in 45 of 236 sites investigated. The distribution patterns revealed that the spread of nutria from farming sites has mainly proceeded along rivers via tributaries. Important factors associated with the establishment of new populations were food availability, levees with suitable burrow materials, and slow water flow. The winter climate was also important, and the total number of days below −4 °C significantly affected nutria occurrence. To date, efforts to control or locally eradicate nutria populations have had little success due to insufficient budgets and the lack of coordinated management activities between local governments. To improve the efficiency of nutria eradication programmes, local governments must establish an integrated and coordinated strategy that is overseen by a single, national agency. To ensure the success of the programmes, this agency should make the best use of ecological information about nutria distribution, and utilize optimal control techniques and timing.

Spatial Evaluation of Ecological Qualities to Support Interactive Land-Use Planning

Information on ecological qualities can play an important role in land-use planning. This information is not always in a form that is suitable to support planning and negotiation among stakeholders. In this paper we describe an approach that uses ecological information based on expert knowledge in combination with spatial multicriteria analysis. Important elements of this approach are selection of evaluation criteria, assessment of scores, standardization, weighting, and aggregation. The approach was tested as part of the land-use planning process of the Bodegraven polder, a peat meadow area in the Netherlands. An interactive mapping device (the ‘touch table’) was used to support a series of interactive workshops with the various stakeholders to generate, assess, and discuss land-use plans for the Bodegraven polder. This paper shows the use of ecological information to support decision making and negotiation.

Enhancing the Content Validity of Stated Preference Valuation: The Structure and Function of Ecological Indicators

Stated preference surveys often provide ambiguous descriptions of ecological commodities, yielding welfare estimates that have unclear interpretations and cannot be linked to measurable outcomes. This paper proposes guidelines to promote ecological content validity in survey scenarios and defensible use of ecological information for welfare analysis. These guidelines are illustrated through an application to migratory fish restoration. Content validity is evaluated vis-á-vis norms for communication of ecological changes in the ecological literature. Findings suggest that less structured treatment of ecological commodities may lead to an omission of information that is relevant to respondents and essential for valid welfare estimation. <i>(JEL Q51, Q57)</i>

Improving aquatic ecological assessments

Improving aquatic ecological assessments

Use of ecological information in urban planning: Experiences from the Helsinki metropolitan area, Finland

This paper studies the use of ecological research information in urban planning focusing on Finland. Research questions addressed the importance and challenges of incorporating ecological information into the planning process, and ways to promote the use of ecological information. Fifteen key professionals from three representative development approval processes in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area were interviewed. The interviewed planners and ecologists considered ecological information important for identifying and preserving valuable urban nature and biodiversity, diminishing negative environmental impacts of construction and for enabling nature-related experiences and services for urban residents. The identified challenges for the use of the information included insufficiency, fragmented nature and lack of adequacy of information, as well as problems with the interpretation and presentation of information. In order to provide more comprehensive ecological information from urbanizing areas in Finland; there should be more coordinated efforts to produce research information that planners really need, ecologists should be more active in the process in providing ecological insights for plans, a proper and simple biodiversity valuation method should be developed, more research on the function on ecological corridors should be conducted, and biodiversity monitoring of implemented planning projects should be developed.

Assessing Ecological Risks at the Landscape Scale: Opportunities and Technical Limitations

There is a growing awareness that ecological risk assessments (ERAs) could be improved if they made better use of ecological information. In particular, landscape features that determine the quality of wildlife habitat can have a profound influence on the estimated exposure to stressors incurred by animals when they occupy a particular area. Various approaches to characterizing the quality of habitat for a given species have existed for some time. These approaches fall into three generalized categories: (1) entirely qualitative as in suitable or unsuitable, (2) semiquantitative as in formalized habitat suitability index models, or (3) highly quantitative site-specific characterization of population demographic data such as matrix population models or multiple regression models. Such information can be used to generate spatially explicit estimates of exposure to chemicals or other environmental stressors, e.g., invasive species, physical perturbation, that take into account the magnitude of co-occurrence of the animals and stressors as they forage across a landscape. In this way, greater ecological realism is provided in the ERA and more informed management decisions can be attained.

POLICY, RESEARCH, AND ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT IN AVIAN CONSERVATION

RUTH ET AL. (2003) propose a science agenda to meet information needs for avian conservation, building on a vision for conservation under the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) and conservation efforts that comprise NABCI (U.S. North American Bird Conservation Initiative Committee 2000). A close association between research and management is emphasized by the authors, especially concerning conservation planning and the use of ecological information in decision making. Left unanswered, however, are a number of interesting and important questions about exactly how scientific information is to be effectively communicated to decision makers, and how decision makers can be induced to use it for biologically informed and effective conservation. The need to address such issues was pointed out by a reviewer of Ruth et al. (2003). Thus, the objective here is to describe a framework for the interface of research and management in natural resource conservation. In what follows, I focus on the respective roles of decision makers and scientists in formulating and assessing natural resources policy. Background.-Conservation of natural resources necessarily involves living systems and the environments that sustain them. However, by its very complexity the network of biological, environmental, and social components that influence living systems challenges our ability to understand and manage those systems effectively (Marzluff and Sallabanks 1998). Thus, ecosystems typically consist of large numbers of components, and large numbers of interactions among components. They are subject to a high

Environmental Education as Facilitator of the Use of Ecological Information: A case study in Mexico

Ecological research is expected to provide a scientific basis on which environmental management decisions can be taken. Environmental education is seen as raising environmental awareness among human populations and as a provider of the knowledge, values, attitudes and skills needed to protect the environment. This article proposes that in the context of developing countries such as Mexico, one role for environmental education is to facilitate the utilisation of ecological information in the solution of problems. In order to outline how this can work in practice, a case study is used to outline the role of environmental education as the linkage between science (its institutions, actors and products) and different sectors of society involved in the management of ecosystems, their resources and the services they provide.

Ecological quality assessment of rivers and integrated catchment management in England and Wales

This paper deals with the ecological assessment of river quality and its relationship to integrated catchment management. The concept of catchment or river basin management has been a basic management tool in England and Wales since 1990; it is now being enshrined in the Water Framework Directive. Historically the statutory and operational drivers in the UK have lead to the development of distinctly different approaches to the management of water quality, water resources (quantity) and physical river structure. More recently a proactive approach to the sustainable use of water promulgated in the Local Environment Agency Plans has also dealt with the three management aspects in some isolation although greater effort has been made to present the issues in an integrated manner. The Water Framework Directive calls for further integration in river basin plans and associated programmes of measures. In the paper the three approaches are described and considered in light of the requirements of the Water Framework Directive. Water Quality classification and objective setting has been based on information from the survey of benthic macro-invertebrates. The Biological Monitoring Working Party Score and the predictive software River Invertebrate Prediction and Classification System (RIVPACS) have been used to set site-specific targets for management purposes. RIVPACS includes a reference database of minimally impacted sites for comparison with the observed data. This approach is in line with the requirements of the directive. Physical river structure work has been based on monitoring of in-river and river corridor characteristics. The River Habitat System (RHS) has also developed a reference database but is less well developed in terms of its predictive ability. The use of ecological information in Water Resource management has taken a different approach based on the concept of differential ecological sensitivity to the hydrological regime within the river. In order to develop a truly integrated approach to catchment management the importance of each the three aspects of management on the biological community will need to be prioritised. It will also be necessary to give careful consideration to the inter-actions between quality, quantity and structure.

The use of ecological information in the selection of quality objectives for river conservation and restoration in Flanders (Belgium)

Due to the intensive use of freshwater resources, the ecological quality of catchments and watercourses in Flanders has been considerably lowered. Watercourses with natural stream characteristics and/or vulnerable species are rare and are quite often isolated headwaters. To restore the natural variety of river types and vulnerable species within Flanders and to restore the network within the catchments, there is an urgent need for river restoration programmes. To work efficiently, priority levels for catchment areas and quality objectives for watercourses should be designated. Our task was to develop a policy map based on objective ecological knowledge, taking into account the legal land designation and nature conservation. Based on a large field survey, which consisted of gathering ecological information of watercourses throughout Flanders, a typology of rivers with reference framework was devised. Secondly, a priority map at a catchment level for integrated water management planning was developed. Three priority levels were distinguished based on the current ecological quality, the (legal) land designation, and the occurring river types within each catchment area. Thirdly, quality objectives were assigned to the priority zone watercourses. Four classes are selected: class I, in which nature conservation is the principal objective; class II, in which nature conservation should become the principal objective; class III, where nature conservation is an important subsidiary function; and class IV, in which most watercourses have a connecting function allowing migration of vulnerable species. The goals for the four classes were linked to different quality requirements. The methodology developed for construction of a priority map and for assignment of water quality objectives to priority watercourses is explained in detail. An ecological evaluation of the sub-catchments of the river Nete and the river Dyle is used to discuss the selection of priority zones. Five sub-catchments are described in more detail to illustrate the assignment of quality objectives to priority zone watercourses.

The use of ecological information in the selection of quality objectives for river conservation and restoration in Flanders (Belgium)

Abstract Due to the intensive use of freshwater resources, the ecological quality of catchments and watercourses in Flanders has been considerably lowered. Watercourses with natural stream characteristics and/or vulnerable species are rare and are quite often isolated headwaters. To restore the natural variety of river types and vulnerable species within Flanders and to restore the network within the catchments, there is an urgent need for river restoration programmes. To work efficiently, priority levels for catchment areas and quality objectives for watercourses should be designated. Our task was to develop a policy map based on objective ecological knowledge, taking into account the legal land designation and nature conservation. Based on a large field survey, which consisted of gathering ecological information of watercourses throughout Flanders, a typology of rivers with reference framework was devised. Secondly, a priority map at a catchment level for integrated water management planning was developed. Three priority levels were distinguished based on the current ecological quality, the (legal) land designation, and the occurring river types within each catchment area. Thirdly, quality objectives were assigned to the priority zone watercourses. Four classes are selected: class I, in which nature conservation is the principal objective; class II, in which nature conservation should become the principal objective; class III, where nature conservation is an important subsidiary function; and class IV, in which most watercourses have a connecting function allowing migration of vulnerable species. The goals for the four classes were linked to different quality requirements. The methodology developed for construction of a priority map and for assignment of water quality objectives to priority watercourses is explained in detail. An ecological evaluation of the sub-catchments of the river Nete and the river Dyle is used to discuss the selection of priority zones. Five sub-catchments are described in more detail to illustrate the assignment of quality objectives to priority zone watercourses.

La cartographie écoforestière ou le défi d’intégrer le milieu physique et le couvert forestier

Abstract:In Quebec, for the past thirty years, ecological land classifications have been proposed to support the use of ecological information by forest managers. Recently, it has been suggested to replace the classical forest inventory maps, which use only dendrometric variables, by integrated forest/site maps that would use both ecological and forest variables. Several methods were tested at the Foret Montmorency, the experimental forest of Universite Laval located in a hilly boreal area influenced by minor natural and human disturbances (1-50 ha). The production of a large scale (1:20 000 – 1:10 000) integrated forest/site map turned out to be much more difficult than anticipated. In a fragmented forest such as the one in the pilot area, the concept of a homogenous “ecoforest stand” can be considered as utopic. Because of soil heterogeneity and also of the large number of discrepancies between vegetation and soil limits, the delimitation of integrated vegetation/site units was operationally difficult. ...