scholarly journals The concept of ecological integrity may have been useful, but that does not make it real or morally valuable

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Marris ◽  
Yasha Rohwer
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Integrity

scholarly journals The Use of Citizen Science to Achieve Multivariate Management Goals on Public Lands

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 293
Author(s):  
Sara Souther ◽  
Vincent Randall ◽  
Nanebah Lyndon
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Land Management ◽  
Ecological Integrity ◽  
Public Land ◽  
Suitable Habitat ◽  
Science Data ◽  
Public Land Management ◽  
Federal Land ◽  
Botanical Research ◽  
Federal Land Management

Federal land management agencies in the US are tasked with maintaining the ecological integrity of over 2 million km2 of land for myriad public uses. Citizen science, operating at the nexus of science, education, and outreach, offers unique benefits to address socio-ecological questions and problems, and thus may offer novel opportunities to support the complex mission of public land managers. Here, we use a case study of an iNaturalist program, the Tribal Nations Botanical Research Collaborative (TNBRC), to examine the use of citizen science programs in public land management. The TNBRC collected 2030 observations of 34 plant species across the project area, while offering learning opportunities for participants. Using occurrence data, we examined observational trends through time and identified five species with 50 or fewer digital observations to investigate as species of possible conservation concern. We compared predictive outcomes of habitat suitability models built using citizen science data and Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data. Models exhibited high agreement, identifying the same underlying predictors of species occurrence and, 95% of the time, identifying the same pixels as suitable habitat. Actions such as staff training on data use and interpretation could enhance integration of citizen science in Federal land management.

scholarly journals Sustainable AI: AI for sustainability and the sustainability of AI

AI and Ethics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aimee van Wynsberghe
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Ecological Integrity ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Computing Power ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Sociotechnical System ◽  
Societal Values ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Definition Of

AbstractWhile there is a growing effort towards AI for Sustainability (e.g. towards the sustainable development goals) it is time to move beyond that and to address the sustainability of developing and using AI systems. In this paper I propose a definition of Sustainable AI; Sustainable AI is a movement to foster change in the entire lifecycle of AI products (i.e. idea generation, training, re-tuning, implementation, governance) towards greater ecological integrity and social justice. As such, Sustainable AI is focused on more than AI applications; rather, it addresses the whole sociotechnical system of AI. I have suggested here that Sustainable AI is not about how to sustain the development of AI per say but it is about how to develop AI that is compatible with sustaining environmental resources for current and future generations; economic models for societies; and societal values that are fundamental to a given society. I have articulated that the phrase Sustainable AI be understood as having two branches; AI for sustainability and sustainability of AI (e.g. reduction of carbon emissions and computing power). I propose that Sustainable AI take sustainable development at the core of its definition with three accompanying tensions between AI innovation and equitable resource distribution; inter and intra-generational justice; and, between environment, society, and economy. This paper is not meant to engage with each of the three pillars of sustainability (i.e. social, economic, environment), and as such the pillars of sustainable AI. Rather, this paper is meant to inspire the reader, the policy maker, the AI ethicist, the AI developer to connect with the environment—to remember that there are environmental costs to AI. Further, to direct funding towards sustainable methods of AI.

A correlation between chytrid abundance and ecological integrity in New Jersey pine barrens waters

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 295-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karena DiLeo ◽  
Kimberly Donat ◽  
Amelia Min-Venditti ◽  
John Dighton
Keyword(s):  
New Jersey ◽  
Ecological Integrity ◽  
Pine Barrens

Ecological integrity and the management of ecosystems

1995 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-250
Author(s):  
Sven Erik Jørgensen
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Integrity

Spatial and temporal variations of fire regimes in the Canadian Rocky Mountains and Foothills of southern Alberta

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (11) ◽  
pp. 1117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Pierre Rogeau ◽  
Mike D. Flannigan ◽  
Brad C. Hawkes ◽  
Marc-André Parisien ◽  
Rick Arthur
Keyword(s):  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Ecological Integrity ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Temporal Variations ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Canadian Rocky Mountains ◽  
Southern Alberta ◽  
Fire Exclusion

Like many fire-adapted ecosystems, decades of fire exclusion policy in the Rocky Mountains and Foothills natural regions of southern Alberta, Canada are raising concern over the loss of ecological integrity. Departure from historical conditions is evaluated using median fire return intervals (MdFRI) based on fire history data from the Subalpine (SUB), Montane (MT) and Upper Foothills (UF) natural subregions. Fire severity, seasonality and cause are also documented. Pre-1948 MdFRI ranged between 65 and 85 years in SUB, between 26 and 35 years in MT and was 39 years in UF. The fire exclusion era resulted in a critical departure of 197–223% in MT (MdFRI = 84–104 years). The departure in UF was 170% (MdFRI = 104 years), while regions of continuous fuels in SUB were departed by 129% (MdFRI = 149 years). The most rugged region of SUB is within its historical range of variation with a departure of 42% (MdFRI = 121 years). More mixed-severity burning took place in MT and UF. SUB and MT are in a lightning shadow pointing to a predominance of anthropogenic burning. A summer fire season prevails in SUB, but occurs from spring to fall elsewhere. These findings will assist in developing fire and forest management policies and adaptive strategies in the future.

scholarly journals Conceptualizing environmental governance on the GBM basin

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marufa Akter
Keyword(s):  
River Water ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Ecological Integrity ◽  
Regional Governance ◽  
Epistemic Community ◽  
Resource Governance ◽  
Lower Stream ◽  
Gbm Basin

River water sharing is an issue that is dealt by the South Asian neighboring countries for the last four decades. Water management of Ganges–Brahmaputra Meghna (GBM) basin is a controversial issue, which is not yet developed as a regional cooperative mechanism. The GBM river basin countries also represent the projection of relative power differences among its upper stream and lower stream countries. Considering the geopolitical context and hydro-politics of the region, the study examines potential scopes for effective regional governance to GBM’s ecological integrity and to share common river water among China, Bhutan, Nepal, India and Bangladesh. The study uses Rittberger et al. (2006) explanatory model (that explains three conditions—Problem, Cognitive and Hegemonic conditions) in the development of multilateral organizations in GBM region. The study deals with the question—what conditions facilitate GBM based water governance among five main riparian countries (upstream and downstream) in resolving the water scarcity challenges in the region. The paper argues that realization of shortage of water and environmental degradation as an interdependent problem, influence of an inclusive epistemic community (cognitive condition) and a hegemonic leadership (power is willing to accept the relative gain of others states for the absolute gain of itself)—are required to foster water resource governance of the GBM for sustainable development of the region.

scholarly journals Barcoding lichen-forming fungi using 454 pyrosequencing is challenged by artifactual and biological sequence variation

Genome ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (9) ◽  
pp. 685-704 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristiina Mark ◽  
Carolina Cornejo ◽  
Christine Keller ◽  
Daniela Flück ◽  
Christoph Scheidegger
Keyword(s):  
454 Pyrosequencing ◽  
Ecological Integrity ◽  
Common Species ◽  
Sequencing Error ◽  
Reference Database ◽  
Biological Sequence ◽  
Internal Transcribed Spacer Region ◽  
Epiphytic Lichen ◽  
Fungal Partner ◽  
A Genome

Although lichens (lichen-forming fungi) play an important role in the ecological integrity of many vulnerable landscapes, only a minority of lichen-forming fungi have been barcoded out of the currently accepted ∼18 000 species. Regular Sanger sequencing can be problematic when analyzing lichens since saprophytic, endophytic, and parasitic fungi live intimately admixed, resulting in low-quality sequencing reads. Here, high-throughput, long-read 454 pyrosequencing in a GS FLX+ System was tested to barcode the fungal partner of 100 epiphytic lichen species from Switzerland using fungal-specific primers when amplifying the full internal transcribed spacer region (ITS). The present study shows the potential of DNA barcoding using pyrosequencing, in that the expected lichen fungus was successfully sequenced for all samples except one. Alignment solutions such as BLAST were found to be largely adequate for the generated long reads. In addition, the NCBI nucleotide database—currently the most complete database for lichen-forming fungi—can be used as a reference database when identifying common species, since the majority of analyzed lichens were identified correctly to the species or at least to the genus level. However, several issues were encountered, including a high sequencing error rate, multiple ITS versions in a genome (incomplete concerted evolution), and in some samples the presence of mixed lichen-forming fungi (possible lichen chimeras).

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