Taxonomic and Phylogenetic Homogenization Across US National Parks: The Role of Non-native Species

2018 ◽  
pp. 275-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daijiang Li ◽  
Julie L. Lockwood ◽  
Benjamin Baiser
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Us National Parks

The role of environmental law

2018 ◽  
pp. 298-303
Author(s):  
Cinnamon P. Carlarne ◽  
Jeffrey M. Bielicki
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
National Parks ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Complex Relationship ◽  
The Many ◽  
Us National Parks

Analysing and developing environmental law requires a broad analysis of the interplay of many factors. This chapter explores some of the many ways in which environmental law influences the connections between nature and people. The chapter does not explore these connections in minute detail, but instead: (i) examines what is meant by ‘environmental law’; (ii) pushes for a broader understanding of the interactions between law, nature, and human well-being; and (iii) provides two examples of the complex relationship between environmental law and human well-being. It provides an overview of environmental law and its origins. It also presents the motivations for environmental law. Finally, hydraulic fracturing and US national parks are used as examples of environmental law and human well-being contexts. These examples highlight some of complicated ways in which environmental law affects human well-being, and demonstrates the need for an expansive view of what well-being entails.

scholarly journals Designed Ecologies: Breaking away from islandised conservation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Elvina Quartermain
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
National Parks ◽  
Native Species ◽  
New Era ◽  
Warming Climate ◽  
Vital Component ◽  
National Significance ◽  
And Function ◽  
Productive Landscapes

<p>This research investigates the role of designed ecologies in the management of our ecosystems and natural resources. It argues that society has adopted a ‘protectionist’ approach toward the planning of our landscapes which in turn has had a detrimental effect on the integration between conservation and occupation. The topic of diminishing landscapes has become increasingly more apparent within recent years and has had a significant contribution toward such approach. With concerns around global warming, climate change and an increase in population, methods of counteraction toward the decline of our native species has become of fundamental importance. It is evident that ecosystems and natural resources provide a vital component toward our livability and therefore planning their resilience is crucial. Various policies have been established to constrain and restrict development in order to protect these ecologies, often within areas of national significance e.g. national parks. These implications have proven to be successful in their intention however, the focus of concern lies in the lack of integral thinking on approach to these spaces. Conservation, as it stands, is weighted significantly toward the islandisation of areas with little to no interaction or benefit to those who are expected to protect them. Looking toward theories centered around productive landscapes and the balance of untouched nature verse those that are interpreted, this research seeks understanding of compromise and compliment. It aims to define a new design approach which 1) engages with traditional aims to ensure our enjoyment of these ecologies is sustained for future generations, and 2) makes more efficient use of such asset in the way these spaces are utilised on a day to day basis. Four different approach methods have been tested and are outlined as follows in an attempt to determine a framework for integration. Though the following was formulated from a design perspective, the critique should not be constricted to simply one discipline but instigate a dialogue of discussion between architects, planners, ecologists, environmentalists, politicians and so forth. These methods should be critiqued on the success of integration between conservation and occupation in order to establish a design process which enables hybridised ecologies to coexist and function simultaneously. Successful implications of such model will use landscape architecture as a means to breathe new life back into these spaces, breaking away from islandised conservation and into a new era of dual functioning resilient outcomes.</p>

scholarly journals Designed Ecologies: Breaking away from islandised conservation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Elvina Quartermain
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
National Parks ◽  
Native Species ◽  
New Era ◽  
Warming Climate ◽  
Vital Component ◽  
National Significance ◽  
And Function ◽  
Productive Landscapes

<p>This research investigates the role of designed ecologies in the management of our ecosystems and natural resources. It argues that society has adopted a ‘protectionist’ approach toward the planning of our landscapes which in turn has had a detrimental effect on the integration between conservation and occupation. The topic of diminishing landscapes has become increasingly more apparent within recent years and has had a significant contribution toward such approach. With concerns around global warming, climate change and an increase in population, methods of counteraction toward the decline of our native species has become of fundamental importance. It is evident that ecosystems and natural resources provide a vital component toward our livability and therefore planning their resilience is crucial. Various policies have been established to constrain and restrict development in order to protect these ecologies, often within areas of national significance e.g. national parks. These implications have proven to be successful in their intention however, the focus of concern lies in the lack of integral thinking on approach to these spaces. Conservation, as it stands, is weighted significantly toward the islandisation of areas with little to no interaction or benefit to those who are expected to protect them. Looking toward theories centered around productive landscapes and the balance of untouched nature verse those that are interpreted, this research seeks understanding of compromise and compliment. It aims to define a new design approach which 1) engages with traditional aims to ensure our enjoyment of these ecologies is sustained for future generations, and 2) makes more efficient use of such asset in the way these spaces are utilised on a day to day basis. Four different approach methods have been tested and are outlined as follows in an attempt to determine a framework for integration. Though the following was formulated from a design perspective, the critique should not be constricted to simply one discipline but instigate a dialogue of discussion between architects, planners, ecologists, environmentalists, politicians and so forth. These methods should be critiqued on the success of integration between conservation and occupation in order to establish a design process which enables hybridised ecologies to coexist and function simultaneously. Successful implications of such model will use landscape architecture as a means to breathe new life back into these spaces, breaking away from islandised conservation and into a new era of dual functioning resilient outcomes.</p>

Endangered Butterflies and their Non-Native Host Plants: Examining Shifting Values of Belonging in Restoration

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Robert M. Anderson ◽  
Amy M. Lambert
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Restoration ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Puget Sound ◽  
A Value ◽  
The Social ◽  
Remote Island ◽  
Scientific Truth ◽  
Native Host

The island marble butterfly (Euchloe ausonides insulanus), thought to be extinct throughout the 20th century until re-discovered on a single remote island in Puget Sound in 1998, has become the focus of a concerted protection effort to prevent its extinction. However, efforts to “restore” island marble habitat conflict with efforts to “restore” the prairie ecosystem where it lives, because of the butterfly’s use of a non-native “weedy” host plant. Through a case study of the island marble project, we examine the practice of ecological restoration as the enactment of particular norms that define which species are understood to belong in the place being restored. We contextualize this case study within ongoing debates over the value of “native” species, indicative of deep-seated uncertainties and anxieties about the role of human intervention to alter or manage landscapes and ecosystems, in the time commonly described as the “Anthropocene.” We interpret the question of “what plants and animals belong in a particular place?” as not a question of scientific truth, but a value-laden construct of environmental management in practice, and we argue for deeper reflexivity on the part of environmental scientists and managers about the social values that inform ecological restoration.

scholarly journals Long-term changes in the plant ecology of an African savanna landscape and the implications for ecosystem theory and conservation management

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Western ◽  
Victor N. Mose ◽  
David Maitumo ◽  
Caroline Mburu
Keyword(s):  
Human Impact ◽  
National Parks ◽  
Conservation Management ◽  
Plant Ecology ◽  
Ecological Resilience ◽  
Pasture Production ◽  
Ecosystem Theory ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background Studies of the African savannas have used national parks to test ecological theories of natural ecosystems, including equilibrium, non-equilibrium, complex adaptive systems, and the role of top-down and bottom-up physical and biotic forces. Most such studies have excluded the impact of pastoralists in shaping grassland ecosystems and, over the last half century, the growing human impact on the world’s rangelands. The mounting human impact calls for selecting indicators and integrated monitoring methods able to track ecosystem changes and the role of natural and human agencies. Our study draws on five decades of monitoring the Amboseli landscape in southern Kenya to document the declining role of natural agencies in shaping plant ecology with rising human impact. Results We show that plant diversity and productivity have declined, biomass turnover has increased in response to a downsizing of mean plant size, and that ecological resilience has declined with the rising probability of extreme shortfalls in pasture production. The signature of rainfall and physical agencies in driving ecosystem properties has decreased sharply with growing human impact. We compare the Amboseli findings to the long-term studies of Kruger and Serengeti national parks to show that the human influence, whether by design or default, is increasingly shaping the ecology of savanna ecosystems. We look at the findings in the larger perspective of human impact on African grasslands and the world rangelands, in general, and discuss the implications for ecosystem theory and conservation policy and management. Conclusions The Amboseli study shows the value of using long-term integrated ecological monitoring to track the spatial and temporal changes in the species composition, structure, and function of rangeland ecosystems and the role of natural and human agencies in the process of change. The study echoes the widespread changes underway across African savannas and world’s rangelands, concluding that some level of ecosystem management is needed to prevent land degradation and the erosion of ecological function, services, and resilience. Despite the weak application of ecological theory to conservation management, a plant trait-based approach is shown to be useful in explaining the macroecological changes underway.

scholarly journals The taxonomy, biogeography and conservation of the myrmecophilous Chrysoritis butterflies (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) in South Africa

Koedoe ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
R.F. Terblanche ◽  
H. Van Hamburg
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
National Parks ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Butterfly Species ◽  
Conservation Action ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
Species Lists ◽  
Species Groups ◽  
Valuable Role

The relevance and integration of scientific knowledge to conservation management of the locally popular and highly endemic butterfly genus Chrysoritis are investigated within the research fields of taxonomy and biogeography. The butterfly genus Chrysoritis contains at least 41 species endemic to South Africa. The taxonomy of Chrysoritis has reached a state where revisions could easily result in a plethora of names between “lumping and splitting”. In practice, the state of the taxonomy of these butterflies on species level may alter their conservation priority. The two most species rich species groups in Chrysoritis have different centres of endemism, however, a butterfly atlas becomes a necessity to reveal more about their biogeography. There is an absence of butterfly species lists in many of our National Parks and Nature Reserves. Legislation should facilitate rather than limit the valuable role of the amateur lepidopterist to add distribution records. In turn, the amateur lepidopterists should adapt and make an effort to explore unknown localities, apart from monitoring butterflies at their well-known localities. The red listing of localised butterflies in South Africa, including a number of Chrysoritis species, is in need of an urgent review in the light of the most recent IUCN categories. A species such as Chrysoritis dicksoni should be protected by law - but at its known localities. The scenario that real conservation action is only needed if the last known locality of a butterfly is threatened, should be abolished. A paradigm shift to conserve the metapopulations of the highly endemic Chrysoritis genus and not merely a few of its species as items that appear on lists, seems necessary.

Estudio sobre el aumento del papel coordinador del Estado en la reforma de la regulación de los Parques Nacionales

2014 ◽  
pp. 2327-2350
Author(s):  
Anna PALLARÈS SERRANO
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
The State ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
Most Significant Change ◽  
Significant Change

LABURPENA: Oro har naturagune babestuen eta bereziki Parke Nazionalen arloko eskumenen banaketatik abiatuta, eta gure ordenamendu juridikoan dagoen koordinazioahalmenetik abiatuta, Estatuaren koordinazio-lana areagotu ahal izateko elementu guztiak aztertzen ditugu, hori baita Parke Nazionalei buruzko berehalako lege-erreformako aldaketa nagusia. Estatuaren koordinazio-lana handitu ahal izateko sartutako elementuen zentzua, erabilgarritasuna, eraginkortasuna eta konstituzionaltasuna aztertzen dugu lan honetan. Gure ustez gure ordenamenduarekin koherenteak ez diren alderdiak ere adierazten ditugu, eta legegileak horren aurrean jarraitu beharko lukeen bidea erakusten dugu. RESUMEN: Partiendo del reparto competencial asentado en la materia de los espacios naturales protegidos, en general, y de los Parques Nacionales, en particular, y del concepto y ejercicio de la potestad de coordinación existente en nuestro ordenamiento jurídico, analizamos la batería de elementos que llevan a incrementar el papel coordinador del Estado, que consideramos constituye el cambio más trascendental de la inmediata reforma de la ley de Parques Nacionales. En este estudio analizamos el sentido, la utilidad, operatividad y constitucionalidad de los elementos introducidos para aumentar el papel coordinador del Estado. Al mismo tiempo, señalamos aquellos aspectos que consideramos que no son coherentes con nuestro ordenamiento y apuntamos el camino que tendría que seguir el legislador al respecto. ABSTRACT: On the basis of the allocation of powers regarding the protected natural spaces in general and National Parks in particular, and the concept and exercise of the power of coordination which exists in our legal order we analyze a set of elements which lead to promote the role of coordination by the State, which we consider to be the most significant change in the immediate reform of the Act on National Parks. We analyze in this study the meaning, the utility, operativity and constitutionality of the elements introduced in order to promote the role of coordination by the State. At the same time, we note those features that we consider that are not coherent with our order and in that regard we show the path to be followed by the legislator.

The Impact of Concessioners on Sustainability in and around U.S. National Parks: A Case Study of Grand Teton National Park Concessioners

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Qwynne Lackey ◽  
Kelly Bricker
Keyword(s):  
Social Exchange ◽  
National Parks ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
National Park ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Private Industry ◽  
Grand Teton National Park ◽  
The Impact

Concessioners play an important role in park and protected area management by providing visitor services. Historically, concessioners were criticized for their negative impacts on environmental sustainability. However, due to policy changes, technological advances, and shifting market demands, there is a need to reevaluate the role of concessioners in sustainable destination management in and around parks and protected areas. The purpose of this qualitative case study situated in Grand Teton National Park (GTNP), which was guided by social exchange theory, was to explore U.S. national park concessioners’ influence on sustainable development at the destination level from the perspective of National Park Service (NPS) staff, concessioners, and local community members. Sustainability was examined holistically as a multifaceted construct with integrated socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental dimensions. Twenty-three participants completed semistructured interviews. Researchers identified four thematic categories describing concessioners’ influence on sustainability; motivations and barriers to pursuing sustainability initiatives; and situational factors that facilitated concessioners’ sustainability actions. While participants commented on the negative environmental impacts of concessioners and their operations, these data suggest that concessioners were working individually and collaboratively to promote environmental, socioeconomic, and cultural sustainability in and around GTNP. Some concessioners were even described as leaders, testing and driving the development of innovative sustainability policies and practices. These actions were motivated, in part, by contractual obligations and profit generation. However, concessioners also had strong intangible motivators, such as intrinsic values and a strong sense of community, that drove their positive contributions to sustainability. Based on these data, we recommend that those involved in future theoretical and practical work with concessioners acknowledge the importance of both tangible and intangible motivators when attempting to promote higher levels of sustainability achievement and collaboration. This will become increasingly important as land management agencies continue to embrace strategies beyond the traditional “parks as islands” approach to management. Additionally, future work should explore more specifically the role of policy, conceptualizations of sustainability, and private industry sponsorship in promoting concessioners’ contributions to sustainability, especially in collaborative settings. This work is needed to understand if and how these observations generalize to other contexts.

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