ALBERT

Description: Transportation infrastructure in national parks has historically been designed for the automobile. With more vehicles in the parks, visitors found themselves in circumstances more reminiscent of a city than a park. Traffic jams, overcrowding, illegal parking, horn honking, and idling vehicles became common, creating stress and contributing to air and noise pollution, the very things visitors were hoping to get away from. Park managers began searching for alternatives, including shuttle systems. Many national parks have implemented optional shuttle systems, but relatively few have completely closed roads to vehicles, transporting visitors on mandatory shuttles. Zion National Park instituted a mandatory shuttle system in May 2000 to relieve crowding and congestion in the main canyon and to protect natural resources. Taking a longitudinal approach, attributes of the shuttle (e.g., crowding, accessibility, freedom, efficiency, preference, and success) were assessed with experiential park factors (e.g., scenic beauty, naturalness, solitude, tranquility, air quality, and soundscape) in 2000, 2003, and 2010 by surveying shuttle-riding park visitors. While visitors initially reported a few reservations about the shuttle system, by 2003, the majority rated the system successful. Ratings of all shuttle-related variables, except crowding, improved over the decade. Improvements were greatest for freedom, accessibility, and efficiency. Multiple regression found overall shuttle success to be mediated by preference, freedom, accessibility, efficiency, and comfort. Experiential variables assessing park conditions followed a similar pattern, with improved ratings as the decade progressed. Results provide important insights into the visitor experience with mandatory alternative shuttle systems in national parks.

Description: Crop and livestock losses to wildlife are a concern for people neighboring many protected areas (PAs) and can generate opposition to conservation. Examining patterns of conflict and associated tolerance is important to devise policies to reduce conflict impacts on people and wildlife. We surveyed 398 households from 178 villages within 10 km of Ranthambore, Kanha, and Nagarahole parks in India. We compared different attitudes toward wildlife, and presented hypothetical response scenarios, including killing the problem animal(s). Eighty percent of households reported crop losses to wildlife and 13 % livestock losses. Higher crop loss was associated with more cropping months per year, greater crop variety, and more harvest seasons per year but did not vary with proximity to the PA, suggesting that PAs are not necessarily “sources” for crop raiders. By contrast, complaints of “depredating carnivores” were associated with people-grazing animals and collecting resources from PAs. Many households (83 %) engaged in mitigation efforts. We found that only fencing and guard animals reduce crop losses, and no efforts to lower livestock losses. Contrary to our expectations, carnivores were not viewed with more hostility than crop-raiding wildlife. Households reported greater inclination to kill herbivores destroying crops or carnivores harming people, but not carnivores preying on livestock. Our model estimated crop loss was 82 % across surveyed households (highest in Kanha), while the livestock loss experienced was 27 % (highest in Ranthambore). Our comparative study provides insights into factors associated with conflict loss and tolerance, and aids in improving ongoing conservation and compensation efforts.

Description: The wildland–urban interface (WUI) is the region where development meets and intermingles with wildlands. The WUI has an elevated fire risk due to the proximity of development and residents to wildlands with natural wildfire regimes. Existing methods of delineating WUI are typically applied over a large region, use proxies for risk, and do not consider site-specific fire hazard drivers. While these models are appropriate for federal and provincial risk management, municipal managers require models intended for smaller regions. The model developed here uses the Burn-P3 fire behavior model to model WUI from local fire susceptibility (FS) in two study communities. Forest fuel code (FFC) maps for the study communities were modified using remote sensing data to produce detailed forest edges, including ladder fuels, update data currency, and add buildings and roads. The modified FFC maps used in Burn-P3 produced bimodal FS distributions for each community. The WUI in these communities was delineated as areas within community bounds where FS was greater than or equal to −1 SD from the mean FS value ( ${\text{WUI}} = {\text{FS}} \geqslant - 1 \, [\bar \chi - \sigma ]$ WUI = FS ⩾ - 1 [ χ ¯ - σ ] ), which fell in the trough of the bimodal distribution. The WUI so delineated conformed to the definition of WUI. This model extends WUI modeling for broader risk management initiatives for municipal management of risk, as it (a) considers site-specific drivers of fire behavior; (b) models risk, represented by WUI, specific to a community; and, (c) does not use proxies for risk.

Description: This study presents a quantitative approach to support policy decision making for the preservation of riverscapes, taking into account the EC Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) and the EC Nitrates Directive (91/676/EEC) concerning the protection of waters against nitrate pollution from agricultural sources. A choice experiment was applied to evaluate the benefits, as perceived by inhabitants, of the implementation of policies aiming to reduce the concentration of nitrates in groundwater, preserve the riverscape by maintaining a minimum water flow and increasing hedges and woods along the Serio River in central northern Italy. Findings suggested that people were particularly concerned about groundwater quality, probably because it is strongly linked to human health. Nevertheless, it was interesting to observe that people expressed a high willingness to pay for actions that affect the riverscape as a whole (such as the minimum water flow maintenance plus reforestation). This is probably due to the close connection between the riverscape and the functions of the river area for recreation, health purposes, and biodiversity preservation.

Description: Marine protected areas are not established in an institutional and governance vacuum and managers should pay attention to the wider social–ecological system in which they are immersed. This article examines Islas Choros-Damas Marine Reserve, a small marine protected area located in a highly productive and biologically diverse coastal marine ecosystem in northern Chile, and the interactions between human, institutional, and ecological dimensions beyond those existing within its boundaries. Through documents analysis, surveys, and interviews, we described marine reserve implementation (governing system) and the social and natural ecosystem-to-be-governed. We analyzed the interactions and the connections between the marine reserve and other spatially explicit conservation and/or management measures existing in the area and influencing management outcomes and governance. A top-down approach with poor stakeholder involvement characterized the implementation process. The marine reserve is highly connected with other spatially explicit measures and with a wider social–ecological system through various ecological processes and socio-economic interactions. Current institutional interactions with positive effects on the management and governance are scarce, although several potential interactions may be developed. For the study area, any management action must recognize interferences from outside conditions and consider some of them (e.g., ecotourism management) as cross-cutting actions for the entire social–ecological system. We consider that institutional interactions and the development of social networks are opportunities to any collective effort aiming to improve governance of Islas Choros-Damas marine reserve. Communication of connections and interactions between marine protected areas and the wider social–ecological system (as described in this study) is proposed as a strategy to improve stakeholder participation in Chilean marine protected areas.

Description: Land abandonment is a major issue worldwide. In Argentina, the Monte Desert is the most arid rangeland, where the traditional conservation practices are based on successional management of areas excluded to disturbances or abandoned. Some areas subjected to this kind of management may be too degraded, and thus require active restoration. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess whether passive succession-based management is a suitable approach by evaluating the status of land degradation in a protected area after 17–41 years of farming abandonment. Soil traits and plant growth forms were quantified and compared between sites according to time since abandonment and former land use (cultivation and grazing). Two variables were calculated using the CORINE-CEC method, i.e., potential (PSER) and actual (ASER) soil erosion risk. PSER indicates the erosion risk when no vegetation is present, while ASER includes the protective role of vegetation cover. Results showed that land use history had no significant effect on plant growth forms or soil traits ( p  〉 0.05). After more than 25 years since abandonment of farming activities, soil conditions and vegetation cover had improved, thus having a lower ASER. Nevertheless, the present soil physical crusts may have delayed the full development of vegetation, enhancing erosion processes. Overall, this study indicates that succession-based management may not be the best practice in terms of conservation. Therefore, any effort for conservation in the Monte Desert should contemplate the current status of land degradation and potential vegetation recovery.

Description: Core themes of geomorphology include: open systems and connectivity; feedbacks and complexity; spatial differentiation of dominant physical processes within a landscape; and legacy effects of historical human use of resources. Core themes of ecology include: open systems and connectivity; hierarchical, heterogeneous, dynamic, and context-dependent characteristics of ecological patterns and processes; nonlinearity, thresholds, hysteresis, and resilience within ecosystems; and human effects. Core themes of environmental governance include: architecture of institutions and decision-making; agency, or ability of actors to prescribe behavior of people in relation to the environment; adaptiveness of social groups to environmental change; accountability and legitimacy of systems of governance; allocation of and access to resources; and thresholds and feedback loops within environmental policy. Core themes common to these disciplines include connectivity, feedbacks, tipping points or thresholds, and resiliency. Emphasizing these points of disciplinary overlap can facilitate interdisciplinary understanding of complex systems, as well as more effective management of landscapes and ecosystems by highlighting drivers of change within systems. We use a previously published conceptual framework to examine how these core themes can be integrated into interdisciplinary research for human–landscape systems via the example of a river.

Description: The effect of arabica coffee management intensity on composition, structure, and regeneration of moist evergreen Afromontane forests was studied in three traditional coffee-management systems of southwest Ethiopia: semiplantation coffee, semiforest coffee, and forest coffee. Vegetation and environmental data were collected in 84 plots from forests varying in intensity of coffee management. After controlling for environmental variation (altitude, aspect, slope, soil nutrient availability, and soil depth), differences in woody species composition, forest structure, and regeneration potential among management systems were compared using one way analysis of variance. The study showed that intensification of forest coffee cultivation to maximize coffee production negatively affects diversity and structure of Ethiopian moist evergreen Afromontane forests. Intensification of coffee productivity starts with the conversion of forest coffee to semiforest coffee, which has significant negative effects on tree seedling abundance. Further intensification leads to the conversion of semiforest to semiplantation coffee, causing significant diversity losses and the collapse of forest structure (decrease of stem density, basal area, crown closure, crown cover, and dominant tree height). Our study underlines the need for shade certification schemes to include variables other than canopy cover and that the loss of species diversity in intensively managed coffee systems may jeopardize the sustainability of coffee production itself through the decrease of ecosystem resilience and disruption of ecosystem services related to coffee yield, such as pollination and pest control.

Description: In the Hyrcanian forests of northern Iran, reduced-impact silviculture systems, (single-tree and group-tree selection) were applied over a large area, which generated different local habitat structures. The aim of this study was to assess the differences between treated and untreated areas of forest and their effect on avian richness, abundance and diversity (R.A.D). Birds were surveyed during the breeding season in 2009 by 100-point counts, equally distributed in the treated and untreated area. Avian R.A.D was significantly different and higher in the untreated area. Generally, forestry practices cause noticeable changes in canopy percentage, tree composition, snags and shrub number. Treated forest habitats in the area of study had a much more developed understory, fewer snags and fewer large diameter trees. The results highlighted the importance of forest maturity and showed that preventing silvicultural disturbances may not be the best solution for conserving and enhancing biodiversity. Rather, methods such as selective cutting seem an appropriate and sustainable way of forest management. It is suggested that forests should be managed to conserve structural elements which create favorable habitat for bird species, preventing future species losses due to logging practices.

Description: A commonly overlooked aspect of conservation planning assessments is that wildlife managers are increasingly focused on habitats that contain non-native species. We examine this management challenge in the Gila River basin (150,730 km 2 ), and present a new planning strategy for fish conservation. By applying a hierarchical prioritization algorithm to 〉850,000 fish records in 27,181 sub-watersheds we first identified high priority areas (PAs) termed “preservation PAs” with high native fish richness and low non-native richness; these represent traditional conservation targets. Second, we identified “restoration PAs” with high native fish richness that also contained high numbers of non-native species; these represent less traditional conservation targets. The top 10 % of preservation and restoration PAs contained common native species (e.g., Catostomus clarkii , desert sucker; Catostomus insignis , Sonora sucker) in addition to native species with limited distributions (i.e., Xyrauchen texanus , razorback sucker; Oncorhynchus gilae apache , Apache trout). The top preservation and restoration PAs overlapped by 42 %, indicating areas with high native fish richness range from minimally to highly invaded. Areas exclusively identified as restoration PAs also encompassed a greater percentage of native species ranges than would be expected by the random addition of an equivalent basin area. Restoration PAs identified an additional 19.0 and 26.6 % of the total ranges of two federally endangered species— Meda fulgida (spikedace) and Gila intermedia (Gila chub), respectively, compared to top preservation PAs alone—despite adding only 5.8 % of basin area. We contend that in addition to preservation PAs, restoration PAs are well suited for complementary management activities benefiting native fishes.

Description: Measurements of methane flux at a few inundated sites in China have been extrapolated to obtain estimates on a national scale. To enable those national estimates to be refined and to compare flux from geographically separated sites comprising the same wetland types, we used a closed chamber method to measure methane flux in uninundated Betula platyphylla —and Larix gmelinii —dominated peatlands in the Northeast China. Our measurements were taken from both vegetated and bare soil surfaces, and we compared flux with environmental measures including vegetation biomass, soil temperature and soil characteristics. We found that methane flux was low, and that there were no significant differences between wetland types, indicating that environmental influences were dominant. We found that flux was positively correlated to temperature in the surface layers of the soil, the above-ground biomass of the shrub and herb layers, total soil carbon and total soil nitrogen; and we suggest that emissions may be due to anaerobic microcosms in the surface layers. The methane production potentials of the soils were low and similar between both sites but inconsistent with the differences between fluxes, and inconsistent with production potentials and fluxes reported from the same wetland types elsewhere, indicating that there were subtle environmental differences between wetlands classed as being of the same type. Differences between fluxes in vegetated chambers with bare soil chambers were insignificant, indicating that no methane emission through aerenchyma occurred at our sites. We concluded that wetland type was not an accurate predictor of methane flux.

Description: Fire is a dominant process in boreal forest landscapes and creates a spatial patch mosaic with different burn severities and age classes. Quantifying effects of vegetation and topography on burn severity provides a scientific basis on which forest fire management plans are developed to reduce catastrophic fires. However, the relative contribution of vegetation and topography to burn severity is highly debated especially under extreme weather conditions. In this study, we hypothesized that relationships of vegetation and topography to burn severity vary with fire size. We examined this hypothesis in a boreal forest landscape of northeastern China by computing the burn severity of 24 fire patches as the difference between the pre- and post-fire Normalized Difference Vegetation Index obtained from two Landsat TM images. The vegetation and topography to burn severity relationships were evaluated at three fire-size levels of small (〈100 ha, n  = 12), moderate (100–1,000 ha, n  = 9), and large (〉1,000 ha, n  = 3). Our results showed that vegetation and topography to burn severity relationships were fire-size-dependent. The burn severity of small fires was primary controlled by vegetation conditions (e.g., understory cover), and the burn severity of large fires was strongly influenced by topographic conditions (e.g., elevation). For moderate fires, the relationships were complex and indistinguishable. Our results also indicated that the pattern trends of relative importance for both vegetation and topography factors were not dependent on fire size. Our study can help managers to design fire management plans according to vegetation characteristics that are found important in controlling burn severity and prioritize management locations based on the relative importance of vegetation and topography.

Description: Understanding the rates and causes of land-use change is crucial in identifying solutions, especially in sensitive landscapes and ecosystems, as well as in places undergoing rapid political, socioeconomic or ecological change. Despite considerable concern at the rate of transformation and degradation of the biodiversity-rich Albany Thicket biome in South Africa, most knowledge is gleaned from private commercial lands and state conservation areas. In comparison, there is limited work in communal areas where land uses include biomass extraction, especially for firewood and construction timber. We used aerial photographs to analyze land use and cover change in the high- and low-use zones of an urban commonage and an adjacent protected area over almost six decades, which included a major political transition. Field sampling was undertaken to characterize the current state of the vegetation and soils of the commonage and protected area and to determine the supply and demand for firewood and construction timber. Between the 1950s and 1980s, there was a clear increase in woody vegetation cover, which was reversed after the political transition in the mid-1990s. However, current woody plant standing stocks and sustainable annual production rates are well above current firewood demand, suggesting other probable causes for the decline in woody plant cover. The fragmentation of woody plant cover is paralleled by increases in grassy areas and bare ground, an increase in soil compaction, and decreases in soil moisture, carbon, and nutrients.

Description: Estuarine shorelines have been degraded since humans arrived in the coastal zone. In recent history, a major cause of habitat degradation has been the armoring of shorelines with vertical walls to protect property from erosive wave energy; however, a lack of practical alternatives that maintain or enhance ecological function has limited the options of waterfront residents and coastal zone managers. We experimentally investigated the habitat value of two configurations of submerged breakwaters constructed along an eroding shoreline in northwest Mobile Bay, AL (USA). Breakwaters comprised of bagged oyster shell or Reef Ball™ concrete domes were built by a community-based restoration effort. Post-deployment monitoring found that: bagged oyster breakwaters supported much higher densities of live ribbed mussels than Reef Ball breakwaters; both breakwater configurations supported increased species richness of juvenile and smaller fishes compared to controls; and that larger fishes did not appear to be affected by breakwater presence. Our study demonstrates that ecologically degraded shorelines can be augmented with small-scale breakwaters at reasonable cost and that these complex structures can serve as habitat for filter-feeding bivalves, mobile invertebrates, and young fishes. Understanding the degree to which these structures mitigate erosive wave energy and protect uplands will require a longer time frame than our 2-year-long study.

Description: Based on previously published studies of elemental cycling in Everglades soils, we projected how soil biogeochemistry, specifically carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, and mercury might respond to climate change scenarios projected for 2060 by the South Florida Water Management Model. Water budgets and stage hydrographs from this model with future scenarios of a 10 % increased or decreased rainfall, a 1.5 °C rise in temperature and associated increase in evapotranspiration (ET) and a 0.5 m rise in sea level were used to predict resulting effects on soil biogeochemistry. Precipitation is a much stronger driver of soil biogeochemical processes than temperature, because of links among water cover, redox conditions, and organic carbon accumulation in soils. Under the 10 % reduced rainfall scenario, large portions of the Everglades will experience dry down, organic soil oxidation, and shifts in soil redox that may dramatically alter biogeochemical processes. Lowering organic soil surface elevation may make portions of the Everglades more vulnerable to sea level rise. The 10 % increased rainfall scenario, while potentially increasing phosphorus, sulfur, and mercury loading to the ecosystem, would maintain organic soil integrity and redox conditions conducive to normal wetland biogeochemical element cycling. Effects of increased ET will be similar to those of decreased precipitation. Temperature increases would have the effect of increasing microbial processes driving biogeochemical element cycling, but the effect would be much less than that of precipitation. The combined effects of decreased rainfall and increased ET suggest catastrophic losses in carbon- and organic-associated elements throughout the peat-based Everglades.

Description: It is uncertain how climate change will impact hydrologic drivers of wildlife population dynamics in freshwater wetlands of the Florida Everglades, or how to accommodate this uncertainty in restoration decisions. Using projections of climate scenarios for the year 2060, we evaluated how several possible futures could affect wildlife populations (wading birds, fish, alligators, native apple snails, amphibians, threatened and invasive species) across the Everglades landscape and inform planning already underway. We used data collected from prior research and monitoring to parameterize our wildlife population models. Hydrologic data were simulated using a spatially explicit, regional-scale model. Our scenario evaluations show that expected changes in temperature, precipitation, and sea level could significantly alter important ecological functions. All of our wildlife indicators were negatively affected by scenarios with less rainfall and more evapotranspiration. Under such scenarios, habitat suitability was substantially reduced for iconic animals such as wading birds and alligators. Conversely, the increased rainfall scenario benefited aquatic prey productivity and apex predators. Cascading impacts on non-native species is speculative, but increasing temperatures could increase the time between cold events that currently limit expansion and abundance of non-native fishes, amphibians, and reptiles with natural ranges in the tropics. This scenario planning framework underscored the benefits of proceeding with Everglades restoration plans that capture and clean more freshwater with the potential to mitigate rainfall loss and postpone impacts of sea level rise.

Description: We implemented an integrated ecological assessment using a GIS-based decision support system model for Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River (UPDE) and Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (DEWA)—national park units with the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Our assessment examined a variety of aquatic and terrestrial indicators of ecosystem components that reflect the parks’ conservation purpose and reference condition. Our assessment compared these indicators to ecological thresholds to determine the condition of park watersheds. Selected indicators included chemical and physical measures of water quality, biologic indicators of water quality, and landscape condition measures. For the chemical and physical measures of water quality, we used a water quality index and each of its nine components to assess the condition of water quality in each watershed. For biologic measures of water quality, we used the Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera aquatic macroinvertebrate index and, secondarily, the Hilsenhoff aquatic macroinvertebrate index. Finally, for the landscape condition measures of our model, we used percent forest and percent impervious surface. Based on our overall assessment, UPDE and DEWA watersheds had an ecological assessment score of 0.433 on a −1 to 1 fuzzy logic scale. This score indicates that, in general, the natural resource condition within watersheds at these parks is healthy or ecologically unimpaired; however, we had only partial data for many of our indicators. Our model is iterative and new data may be incorporated as they become available. These natural parks are located within a rapidly urbanizing landscape—we recommend that natural resource managers remain vigilant to surrounding land uses that may adversely affect natural resources within the parks.

Description: A risk assessment process was used to trial the impact of potential new operating rules on the frequency of nest inundation for the White-throated snapping turtle, Elseya albagula , in the impounded waters of the Burnett River, Queensland, Australia. The proposed operating rules would increase the barrage storage level during the turtle nesting season (May–July) and then would be allowed to reduce to a lower level for incubation for the rest of the year. These proposed operating rules reduce rates of nest inundation by altering water levels in the Ben Anderson Barrage impoundment of the Burnett River. The rules operate throughout the turtle reproductive period and concomitantly improve stability of littoral habitat and fishway operation. Additionally, the proposed rules are expected to have positive socio-economic benefits within the region. While regulated water resources will inherently have a number of negative environmental implications, these potential new operating rules have the capacity to benefit the environment while managing resources in a more sustainable manner. The operating rules have now been enacted in subordinate legislation and require the operator to maintain water levels to minimize turtle nest inundation.

Description: Rehabilitated riparian zones in agricultural landscapes enhance environmental integrity and provide environmental services such as carbon (C) sequestration. This study quantified differences in organic matter input, soil biochemical characteristics, and soil respiration in a 25-year-old rehabilitated (RH), grass (GRS), and undisturbed natural forest (UNF) riparian zone. Input from herbaceous vegetation was significantly greater ( P  〈 0.05) in the GRS riparian zone, whereas autumnal litterfall was significantly greater ( P  〈 0.05) in the RH riparian zone. Soil bulk density was significantly greater ( P  〈 0.05) in the RH riparian zone, but its soil chemical characteristics were significantly lower. Soil respiration rates were lowest ( P  〈 0.05) in the UNF (106 C m −2  h −1 ), followed by the RH (169 mg C m −2  h −1 ) and GRS (194 C m −2  h −1 ) riparian zones. Soil respiration rates were significantly different ( P  〈 0.05) among seasons, and were significantly correlated with soil moisture ( P  〈 0.05) and soil temperature ( P  〈 0.05) in all riparian zones. Soil potential microbial activity indicated a significantly different ( P  〈 0.05) response of the microbial metabolic diversity in the RH compared to the GRS and UNF riparian zones, and principle component analysis showed a distinct difference in microbial activity among the riparian land-use systems. Rehabilitating degraded riparian zones with trees rather than GRS is a more effective approach to the long-term mitigation of CO 2 . Therefore, the protection of existing natural/undisturbed riparian forests in agricultural landscapes is equally important as their rehabilitation with trees, given their higher levels of soil organic C and lower soil respiration rates.

Description: Climate change will further exacerbate wetland deterioration, especially in the Mediterranean region. On the one side, it will accelerate the decline in the populations and species of plants and animals, this resulting in an impoverishment of biological abundance. On the other one, it will also promote biotic homogenization, resulting in a loss of species’ diversity. In this context, different climate change adaptation policies can be designed: those oriented to recovering species’ abundance and those aimed at restoring species’ diversity. Based on the awareness that knowledge about visitors’ preferences is crucial to better inform policy makers and secure wetlands’ public use and conservation, this paper assesses the recreational benefits of different adaptation options through a choice experiment study carried out in S’Albufera wetland (Mallorca). Results show that visitors display positive preferences for an increase in both species’ abundance and diversity, although they assign a higher value to the latter, thus suggesting a higher social acceptability of policies pursuing wetlands’ differentiation. This finding acquires special relevance not only for adaptation management in wetlands but also for tourism planning, as most visitors to S’Albufera are tourists. Thus, given the growing competition to attract visitors and the increasing demand for high environmental quality and unique experiences, promoting wetlands’ differentiation could be a good strategy to gain competitive advantage over other wetland areas and tourism destinations.

Description:    Dry grasslands are one of the most species rich and endangered types of vegetation in Europe. In the Czech Republic, dry grasslands are mainly of anthropogenic origin and were formed as a result of grazing after the clear-cutting of thermophilous oak woods. Gradual changes in the farming landscape throughout the 20th century, particularly in the 1960s, resulted in the abandonment of the relatively infertile habitats of dry grasslands. After abandonment, dry grasslands decline and degrade due to the gradual overgrowth of woody species and expansion of perennial tall grasses. In the year 2000, a grazing management program was introduced in the protected areas within the territory of Prague City to maintain the species diversity of dry grasslands. The responses of the expansive grass species, Arrhenatherum elatius L. and multiple woody species (especially, Prunus spinosa L.) to differences in grazing periods were monitored for over a decade . Grazing in spring through the end of June had the greatest impact on the reduction of A. elatius and woody species. Grazing in the height of summer through autumn did not reduce the cover of these plants, and may support the prosperity of both A. elatius and the woody species due to higher levels of nutrients. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-7 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9819-4 Authors Jiří Dostálek, Silva Tarouca Research Institute for Landscape and Ornamental Gardening, 252 43 Průhonice, Czech Republic Tomáš Frantík, Institute of Botany, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 252 43 Průhonice, Czech Republic Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Eco-hydrological research in arid inland river basins has been a focus of geologists and ecologists as it is crucial for maintaining the sustainable development of socio-economy, particularly in ecologically vulnerable areas. Based on the research work carried out in the Tarim River basin of Xinjiang, northwestern China, this paper summarizes synthetically the climate change and associated responses of water resources in the mountainous area, land use and land cover in the oasis, and plants responding to environmental stresses in the desert area of the river basin. Research gaps, challenges, and future perspectives in the eco-hydrological studies of the Tarim River basin are also discussed. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-16 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9823-8 Authors Yaning Chen, State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China Changchun Xu, Key Laboratory of Oasis Ecology, School of Resources and Environmental Science, Xinjiang University, Urumqi, China Yapeng Chen, State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China Yongbo Liu, Department of Geography, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada Weihong Li, State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Foreign and domestic government agencies and other international organizations pursue reforestation programs in rural upper watershed areas of Afghanistan over the past decade to alleviate poverty, combat the insurgency and rehabilitate a depleted forest resource base. Popular programs incorporate cash-for-work to conduct hillside terracing, check dam construction and tree-planting for nut production, fuel wood, timber, dune stabilization, and erosion abatement. Programmatic approaches have varied as a function of accessibility, security and local objectives. Uncertain land tenure and use rights, weak local environmental management capacity, and a focus on agricultural production to meet immediate needs limit interest, nationally and locally. Unreliable security, a lack of high quality tree planting stock, limited technical knowledge and coordination among government agencies, and poor security hamper program expansion. Reforestation success would be most likely where these issues are least acute. The Afghan government should focus on supporting community based natural resource management, developing and disseminating improved conservation tree nursery strategies, and promoting watershed management schemes that incorporate forestry, range management and agronomic production. Reforestation practitioners could benefit from the human and material resources now present as part of the international war effort. Successes and failures encountered in Afghanistan should be considered in order to address similar problems in insecure regions elsewhere when reforestation may help reverse environmental degradation and contribute to broader social stabilization efforts. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9817-6 Authors John W. Groninger, Department of Forestry, Southern Illinois University, Mailcode 4411, Carbondale, 62901-4411 IL, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Groundwater is an important source of water, especially in arid and semi-arid regions where surface water is scarce. Groundwater pollution in these regions is consequently a major concern, especially as pollution control and removal in these resources are not only expensive but at times impossible. It is, therefore, essential to prevent their contamination in the first place by properly identifying vulnerable zones. One method most commonly used for evaluating groundwater pollution is the DRASTIC method, in which the Boolean logic is used to rank and classify the parameters involved. Problems arise, however, in the application of the Boolean logic. In this paper, the fuzzy logic has been used to avoid the problems. For this purpose, three critical cases of minimum, maximum, and mean values have been considered for the net recharge parameter. The process has been performed on the Zayandehrood river basin aquifers. The fuzzy-DRASTIC vulnerability map thus obtained indicates that the western areas of the basin generally have the maximum pollution potential followed by the areas located in the east. The central parts of the study area are found to have a low pollution potential. Finally, two sensitivity analyses are performed to show the significance of each value of the net recharge parameter in the calculation of vulnerability index. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9960-0 Authors Farshad Rezaei, Department of Civil Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran Hamid R. Safavi, Department of Civil Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran Azadeh Ahmadi, Department of Civil Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    A dynamic water balance model is created to examine the effects of different water conservation policies and recycled water use on water demand and supply in a region faced with water shortages and significant population growth, the Las Vegas Valley (LVV). The model, developed using system dynamics approach, includes an unusual component of the water system, return flow credits, where credits are accrued for returning treated wastewater to the water supply source. In LVV, Lake Mead serves as, both the drinking water source and the receiving body for treated wastewater. LVV has a consumptive use allocation from Lake Mead but return flow credits allow the water agency to pull out additional water equal to the amount returned as treated wastewater. This backdrop results in a scenario in which conservation may cause a decline in the available water supply. Current water use in LVV is 945 lpcd (250 gpcd), which the water agency aims to reduce to 752 lpcd (199 gpcd) by 2035, mainly through water conservation. Different conservation policies focused on indoor and outdoor water use, along with different population growth scenarios, are modeled for their effects on the water demand and supply. Major contribution of this study is in highlighting the importance of outdoor water conservation and the effectiveness of reducing population growth rate in addressing the future water shortages. The water agency target to decrease consumption, if met completely through outdoor conservation, coupled with lower population growth rate, can potentially satisfy the Valley’s water demands through 2035. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-10 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9965-8 Authors Kamal Qaiser, Atkins, 10509 Professional Circle, Suite 102, Reno, NV 89521, USA Sajjad Ahmad, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Nevada, 4505 South Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, NV 89154, USA Walter Johnson, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Nevada, 4505 South Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, NV 89154, USA Jacimaria R. Batista, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Nevada, 4505 South Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, NV 89154, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Tree inventories are expensive to conduct and update, so every inventory carried out must be maximized. However, increasing the number of constituent parameters increases the cost of performing and updating the inventory, illustrating the need for careful parameter selection. This article reports the results of a systematic expert rating of tree inventories aiming to quantify the relative importance of each parameter. Using the Delphi method, panels comprising city officials, arborists, and academics rated a total of 148 parameters. The total mean score, the top ranking parameters, which can serve as a guide for decision-making at practical level and for standardization of tree inventories, were: Scientific name of the tree species and genera , Vitality , Coordinates , Hazard class , and Identification number. The study also examined whether the different responsibilities and usage of urban tree databases among organizations and people engaged in urban tree inventories affected their prioritization. The results revealed noticeable dissimilarities in the ranking of parameters between the panels, underlining the need for collaboration between the research community and those commissioning, administrating, and conducting inventories. Only by applying such a transdisciplinary approach to parameter selection can urban tree inventories be strengthened and made more relevant. Content Type Journal Article Category Original Paper Pages 1-15 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9973-8 Authors Johan Östberg, Department of Landscape Management, Design and Construction, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp, Sweden Tim Delshammar, Department of Landscape Management, Design and Construction, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp, Sweden Björn Wiström, Department of Landscape Management, Design and Construction, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp, Sweden Anders Busse Nielsen, Department of Landscape Management, Design and Construction, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp, Sweden Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Many recreation impact studies have focused on summer activities, but the environmental impact of winter recreation is poorly characterized. This study characterizes the impact of snowshoe/cross-country ski compaction and snowmelt erosion on trails. Trail cross-sectional profiles were measured before and after the winter season to map changes in erosion due to winter recreation. Compacted snow on the trail was 30 % more dense than snowpack off the trail before spring melt out. Snow stayed on the trail 7 days longer. Soil and organic material was transported after spring snowmelt with −9.5 ± 2.4 cm 2 total erosion occurring on the trail transects and −3.8 ± 2.4 cm 2 total erosion occurring on the control transect ( P  = 0.046). More material was transported on the trail than on the control, 12.9± 2.4 versus 6.0 ± 2.4 cm 2 ( P  = 0.055), however, deposition levels remained similar on the trail and on the control. Snow compaction from snowshoers and cross-country skiers intensified erosion. Trail gradient was found to be significantly correlated to net changes in material on the trail ( R 2  = 0.89, ρ = −0.98, P  = 0.005). This study provides a baseline, showing that non-motorized winter recreation does impact soil erosion rates but more studies are needed. Trail managers should consider mitigation such as water bars, culverts and avoiding building trails with steep gradients, in order to reduce loss of soils on trails and subsequent sedimentation of streams. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-15 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9963-x Authors Holly Eagleston, Department of Resource Management, Central Washington University, 400 East University Way, Ellensburg, WA 98926, USA Charles Rubin, Department of Geological Sciences, Central Washington University, 400 East University Way, Ellensburg, WA 98926, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Soil analyses were conducted on home lawns across diverse ecoregions of the U.S. to determine the soil organic carbon (SOC) sink capacity of turfgrass soils. Establishment of lawns sequestered SOC over time. Due to variations in ecoregions, sequestration rates varied among sites from 0.9 Mg carbon (C) ha −1  year −1 to 5.4 Mg C ha −1  year −1 . Potential SOC sink capacity also varied among sites ranging from 20.8 ± 1.0–96.3 ± 6.0 Mg C ha −1 . Average sequestration rate and sink capacity for all sites sampled were 2.8 ± 0.3 Mg C ha −1  year −1 and 45.8 ± 3.5 Mg C ha −1 , respectively. Additionally, the hidden carbon costs (HCC) due to lawn mowing (189.7 kg Ce (carbon equivalent) ha −1  year −1 ) and fertilizer use (63.6 kg Ce ha −1  year −1 ) for all sites totaled 254.3 kg Ce ha −1  year −1 . Considering home lawn SOC sink capacity and HCC, mean home lawn sequestration was completely negated 184 years post establishment. The potential SOC sink capacity of home lawns in the U.S. was estimated at 496.3 Tg C, with HCC of between 2,504.1 Gg Ce year −1 under low management regimes and 7551.4 Gg Ce year −1 under high management. This leads to a carbon-positive system for between 66 and 199 years in U.S. home lawns. More efficient and reduction of C-intensive maintenance practices could increase the overall sequestration longevity of home lawns and improve their climate change mitigation potential. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9967-6 Authors Adam Selhorst, Carbon Management and Sequestration Center, The Ohio State University, 422B Kottman Hall, 2021 Coffey Road, Columbus, OH 43210, USA Rattan Lal, Carbon Management and Sequestration Center, The Ohio State University, 422B Kottman Hall, 2021 Coffey Road, Columbus, OH 43210, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Landscape-level green infrastructure creates a network of natural and semi-natural areas that protects and enhances ecosystem services, regenerative capacities, and ecological dynamism over long timeframes. It can also enhance quality of life and certain economic activity. Highways create a network for moving goods and services efficiently, enabling commerce, and improving mobility. A fundamentally profound conflict exists between transportation planning and green infrastructure planning because they both seek to create connected, functioning networks across the same landscapes and regions, but transportation networks, especially in the form of highways, fragment and disconnect green infrastructure networks. A key opportunity has emerged in the United States during the last ten years with the promotion of measures to link transportation and environmental concerns. In this article we examined the potential benefits and challenges of linking landscape-level green infrastructure planning and implementation with integrated transportation planning and highway project development in the United States policy context. This was done by establishing a conceptual model that identified logical flow lines from planning to implementation as well as the potential interconnectors between green infrastructure and highway infrastructure. We analyzed the relationship of these activities through literature review, policy analysis, and a case study of a suburban Maryland, USA landscape. We found that regionally developed and adopted green infrastructure plans can be instrumental in creating more responsive regional transportation plans and streamlining the project environmental review process while enabling better outcomes by enabling more targeted mitigation. In order for benefits to occur, however, landscape-scale green infrastructure assessments and plans must be in place before integrated transportation planning and highway project development occurs. It is in the transportation community’s interests to actively facilitate green infrastructure planning because it creates a more predictable environmental review context. On the other hand, for landscape-level green infrastructure, transportation planning and development is much more established and better funded and can provide a means of supporting green infrastructure planning and implementation, thereby enhancing conservation of ecological function. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-16 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9966-7 Authors Daniel J. Marcucci, Department of Geography, East Carolina University, 213 A Brewster, Greenville, NC 27858, USA Lauren M. Jordan, Institute for Coastal Sciences and Policy, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Conservation Area Management Committees (CAMCs)—the functional decision-making units consisting entirely of local villagers—are grassroots organizations legally established to manage the Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA) in Nepal. These committees suffered due to the decade-long Maoist insurgency, but they survived. The paper attempts to test what factors contributed to their resiliency. For this, I surveyed 30 CAMCs during the summer of 2007 and conducted semi-structured interviews of 190 executive members of the CAMCs and 13 park officials who closely monitor the CAMCs. Regression results showed that the number of leaders ( b  = 0.44, t  = 2.38, P  = .027) was the most critical variable for building the resilience of CAMCs to the Maoist insurgency, i.e., retaining the same function, structure, and identity of the committees. As there were no reported conflicts among leaders and they were involved in negotiations and devising contingency plans, CAMCs actually benefited from having more leaders. Of the three diversity indices, the quadratic terms of age diversity ( b  = −5.42, t  = 1.95, P  = .064) and ethnic diversity ( b  = −4.05, t  = 1.78, P  = .075) had a negative impact on the CAMCs’ resilience. Skill diversity and organizational memory had no significant influence on the CAMCs’ resilience ( t  〈 1.48, P  〉 .10). These results have important implications for building resilience in community-based conservation. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9978-3 Authors Nabin Baral, Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Values are generally defined as social facts that orientate individual and collective actions, and consequently influence political, economic and social systems. The evaluation of natural resource values is considered an important instrument to support decision making in environmental policy. The forest is an important renewable resource that provides a mix of social, economic and environmental values for society. The paper presents a survey method to collect and analyse individual preferences relating to three macro-categories of forest values. The survey method was tested in the Trentino region (north-east of the Italian Alps) and will soon be extended to other areas. The results of the questionnaires provided evidence that the forest economic value is perceived as least important, while the environmental values were appreciated the most. Regarding the principle social variables, males tended to give higher scores to all three macro-categories compared to females. Moreover, people with a low education also gave higher scores to all three categories in comparison to the more educated individuals. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-9 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9974-7 Authors Alessandro Paletto, Consiglio per la Ricerca e Sperimentazione in Agricoltura—Unità di Ricerca per il Monitoraggio e la Pianificazione Forestale–Forest Monitoring and Planning Research Unit (CRA-MPF), P.za Nicolini 6, 38100 Villazzano, Trento, Italy Federica Maino, EURAC European Academy of Bozen/Bolzano—Institute for Regional Development and Location Management, Viale Druso 1, 39100 Bolzano, Italy Isabella De Meo, Consiglio per la Ricerca e Sperimentazione in Agricoltura—Centro di Ricerca per l’Agrobiologia e la Pedologia–Agrobiology and Pedology Centre (CRA-ABP), P.za D’Azeglio 30, 50121 Florence, Italy Fabrizio Ferretti, Consiglio per la Ricerca e Sperimentazione in Agricoltura—Unità di Ricerca per la Gestione dei Sistemi Forestali dell’Appennino–Apennine Forestry Research Unit (CRA–SFA), Via Bellini 8, 86170 Isernia, Italy Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    This paper aims to deepen the search for ecosystem-like concepts in indigenous societies by highlighting the importance of place names used by Quechua indigenous farmers from the central Bolivian Andes. Villagers from two communities in the Tunari Mountain Range were asked to list, describe, map and categorize the places they knew on their community’s territory. Results show that place names capture spatially explicit units which integrate biotic and abiotic nature and humans, and that there is an emphasis on topographic terms, highlighting the importance of geodiversity. Farmers’ perspectives differ from the classical view of ecosystems because they ‘humanize’ places, considering them as living beings with agency. Consequently, they do not make a distinction between natural and cultural heritage. Their perspective of the environment is that of a personalized, dynamic relationship with the elements of the natural world that are perceived as living entities. A practical implication of the findings for sustainable development is that since places names make the links between people and the elements of the landscape, toponymy is a tool for ecosystem management rooted in indigenous knowledge. Because place names refer to holistic units linked with people’s experience and spatially explicit, they can be used as an entry point to implement an intercultural dialogue for more sustainable land management. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-16 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9969-4 Authors Sébastien Boillat, Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, 303-70 Dysart Road, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2M6, Canada Elvira Serrano, Facultad de Ciencias Agrícolas y Pecuarias, Universidad Mayor de San Simón, Av. Petrolera km. 4 1/2, Cochabamba, Bolivia Stephan Rist, Centre for Development and Environment, University of Bern, Hallerstrasse 10, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland Fikret Berkes, Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, 303-70 Dysart Road, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2M6, Canada Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Understanding the best way to allocate limited resources is a constant challenge for water quality improvement efforts. The synoptic approach is a tool for geographic prioritization of these efforts. It uses a benefit-cost framework to calculate indices for functional criteria in subunits (watersheds, counties) of a region and then rank the subunits. The synoptic approach was specifically designed to incorporate best professional judgment in cases where information and resources are limited. To date, the synoptic approach has been applied primarily to local or regional wetland restoration prioritization projects. The goal of this work was to develop a synoptic model for prioritizing watersheds within which suites of agricultural best management practices (BMPs) can be implemented to reduce sediment load at the watershed outlets. The model ranks candidate watersheds within an ecoregion or river basin so that BMP implementation within the highest ranked watersheds will result in the most sediment load reduction per conservation dollar invested. The model can be applied anywhere and at many scales provided that the selected suite of BMPs is appropriate for the evaluation area’s biophysical and climatic conditions. The model was specifically developed as a tool for prioritizing BMP implementation efforts in ecoregions containing watersheds associated with the USDA-NRCS conservation effects assessment project (CEAP). This paper presents the testing of the model in the little river experimental watershed (LREW) which is located near Tifton, Georgia, USA and is the CEAP watershed representing the southeastern coastal plain. The application of the model to the LREW demonstrated that the model represents the physical drivers of erosion and sediment loading well. The application also showed that the model is quite responsive to social and economic drivers and is, therefore, best applied at a scale large enough to ensure differences in social and economic drivers across the candidate watersheds. The prioritization model will be used for planning purposes. Its results are visualized as maps which enable resource managers to identify watersheds within which BMP implementation would result in the most water quality improvement per conservation dollar invested. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-16 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9977-4 Authors Taeil Jang, Department of Rural Construction Engineering, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju-si, Jeonbuk 561-756, Republic of Korea George Vellidis, Crop & Soil Sciences Department, University of Georgia, 2360 Rainwater Road, Tifton, GA 31793-5766, USA Jeffrey B. Hyman, Conservation Law Center, Bloomington, IN 47408, USA Erin Brooks, Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844, USA Lyubov A. Kurkalova, Department of Economics and Energy and Environmental Systems Program, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA Jan Boll, Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844, USA Jaepil Cho, Climate Change Research Team, Climate Research Department, APEC Climate Center, Haeundae-gu, Busan, 612-020 Republic of Korea Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Denitrification is a critical biogeochemical process that results in the conversion of nitrate to volatile products, and thus is a major route of nitrogen loss from terrestrial environments. Riparian buffers are an important management tool that is widely utilized to protect water from non-point source pollution. However, riparian buffers vary in their nitrate removal effectiveness, and thus there is a need for mechanistic studies to explore nitrate dynamics in buffer soils. The objectives of this study were to examine the influence of specific types of soluble organic matter on nitrate loss and nitrous oxide production rates, and to elucidate the relationships between these rates and the abundances of functional genes in a riparian buffer soil. Continuous-flow soil column experiments were performed to investigate the effect of three types of soluble organic matter (citric acid, alginic acid, and Suwannee River dissolved organic carbon) on rates of nitrate loss and nitrous oxide production. We found that nitrate loss rates increased as citric acid concentrations increased; however, rates of nitrate loss were weakly affected or not affected by the addition of the other types of organic matter. In all experiments, rates of nitrous oxide production mirrored nitrate loss rates. In addition, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was utilized to quantify the number of genes known to encode enzymes that catalyze nitrite reduction (i.e., nirS and nirK ) in soil that was collected at the conclusion of column experiments. Nitrate loss and nitrous oxide production rates trended with copy numbers of both nir and 16s rDNA genes. The results suggest that low-molecular mass organic species are more effective at promoting nitrogen transformations than large biopolymers or humic substances, and also help to link genetic potential to chemical reactivity. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9929-z Authors Lin Wu, Department of Soil Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7619, USA Deanna L. Osmond, Department of Soil Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7619, USA Alexandria K. Graves, Department of Soil Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7619, USA Michael R. Burchell, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7625, USA Owen W. Duckworth, Department of Soil Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7619, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Wetland loss is a frequent concern for the environmental management of rural landscapes, but poor disentanglement between climatic and land management causes frequently constrains both proper diagnoses and planning. The aim of this study is to address areal changes induced by non-climatic factors on lentic water bodies (LWB) within an agricultural basin of the Argentinean Pampas, and the human activities that might be involved. The LWB of the Mar Chiquita basin (Buenos Aires province, Argentina) were mapped using Landsat images from 1998–2008 and then corrected for precipitation variability by considering the regional hydrological status on each date. LWB areal changes were statistically and spatially analyzed in relation to land use changes, channelization of streams, and drainage of small SWB in the catchment areas. We found that 12 % of the total LWB in the basin had changed ( P  〈 0.05) due to non-climatic causes. During the evaluated decade, 30 % of the LWB that changed size had decreased while 70 % showed steady increases in area. The number of altered LWB within watersheds lineally increased or decreased according to the proportion of grasslands replaced by sown pastures, or the proportion of sown pastures replaced by crop fields, respectively. Drainage and channelization do not appear to be related to the alteration of LWB; however some of these hydrologic modifications may predate 1998, and thus earlier effects cannot be discarded. This study shows that large-scale changes in land cover (e.g., grasslands reduction) can cause a noticeable loss of hydrologic regulation at the catchment scale within a decade. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-10 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9943-1 Authors Gisel Carolina Booman, Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Dean Funes 3350, 7600 Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina Mirta Calandroni, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, National Route 226 Km. 73.5, 7620 Balcarce, Buenos Aires, Argentina Pedro Laterra, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, National Route 226 Km. 73.5, 7620 Balcarce, Buenos Aires, Argentina Fabián Cabria, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, National Route 226 Km. 73.5, 7620 Balcarce, Buenos Aires, Argentina Oscar Iribarne, Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Dean Funes 3350, 7600 Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina Pablo Vázquez, EEA Guillermo Covas Anguil, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, National Route 5 Km. 580, 6326 Anguil, La Pampa, Argentina Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Aquatic bryophytes, Hygrohypnum ochraceum , were deployed “in situ” at 14 sites in the Fountain Creek Watershed, spring and fall, 2007 to study selenium (Se) accumulation. Dissolved, total, and pore (sediment derived) water samples were collected and water quality parameters determined while plants were exposed to the water for 10 days. There was a trend showing plant tissue-Se uptake with distance downstream and we found a strong correlation between Se in the water with total hardness in both seasons. There was a modest association between Se-uptake in plants with hardness in the spring of 2007 but not the fall. Plants bioconcentrated Se from the water by a factor of 5.8 × 10 3 at Green Mountain Falls and 1.5 × 10 4 at Manitou Springs in the fall of 2007. Both are examples of the bioconcentration abilities of the plants, primarily in the upper reaches of the watershed where bioconcentration factors were highest. However, the mean minima and maxima of Se in the plants in each of the three watershed segments appeared similar during both seasons. We found direct relationships between the pore and dissolved Se in water in the spring ( R 2  = 0.84) and fall ( R 2  = 0.95) and dissolved Se and total hardness in the spring and fall ( R 2  = 0.92). The data indicate that H. ochraceum was a suitable indicator of Se bioavailability and Se uptake in other trophic levels in the Fountain Creek Watershed based on a subsequent study of Se accumulation in fish tissues at all 14 sites. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9947-x Authors S. J. Herrmann, Colorado State University-Pueblo, Pueblo, CO, USA J. A. Turner, Colorado State University-Pueblo, Pueblo, CO, USA J. S. Carsella, Colorado State University-Pueblo, Pueblo, CO, USA D. W. Lehmpuhl, Colorado State University-Pueblo, Pueblo, CO, USA D. R. Nimmo, Colorado State University-Pueblo, Pueblo, CO, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Recent studies have demonstrated the geomorphic complexity and wide range of hydrologic regimes found in alpine headwater channels that provide complex habitats for aquatic taxa. These geohydrologic elements are fundamental to better understand patterns in species assemblages and indicator taxa and are necessary to aquatic monitoring protocols that aim to track changes in physical conditions. Complex physical variables shape many biological and ecological traits, including life history strategies, but these mechanisms can only be understood if critical physical variables are adequately represented within the sampling framework. To better align sampling design protocols with current geohydrologic knowledge, we present a conceptual framework that incorporates regional-scale conditions, basin-scale longitudinal profiles, valley-scale glacial macroform structure, valley segment-scale (i.e., colluvial, alluvial, and bedrock), and reach-scale channel types. At the valley segment- and reach-scales, these hierarchical levels are associated with differences in streamflow and sediment regime, water source contribution and water temperature. Examples of linked physical-ecological hypotheses placed in a landscape context and a case study using the proposed framework are presented to demonstrate the usefulness of this approach for monitoring complex temporal and spatial patterns and processes in glaciated basins. This approach is meant to aid in comparisons between mountain regions on a global scale and to improve management of potentially endangered alpine species affected by climate change and other stressors. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-16 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9957-8 Authors Anne A. Weekes, Natural Systems Design, Seattle, WA, USA Christian E. Torgersen, U.S. Geological Survey, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA David R. Montgomery, Department of Earth and Space Sciences, Quaternary Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA Andrea Woodward, U.S. Geological Survey, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, Seattle, WA, USA Susan M. Bolton, School of Environmental and Forest Resources, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Plant–soil interactions are known to influence a wide range of ecosystem-level functions. Moreover, the recovery of these functions is of importance for the successful restoration of soils that have been degraded through intensive and/or inappropriate land use. Here, we assessed the effect of planting treatments commonly used to accelerate rates of grassland restoration, namely introduction of different legume species Medicago sativa , Astragalus adsurgens , Melilotus suaveolens , on the recovery of soil microbial communities and carbon and nitrogen contents in abandoned fields of the Loess Plateau, China. The results showed effects were species-specific, and either positive, neutral or negative depending on the measure and time-scale. All legumes increased basal respiration and metabolic quotient and had a positive effect on activity and functional diversity of the soil microbial community, measured using Biolog EcoPlate. However, soil under Astragalus adsurgens had the highest activity and functional diversity relative to the other treatments. Soil carbon and nitrogen content and microbial biomass were effectively restored in 3–5 years by introducing Medicago sativa and Astragalus adsurgens into early abandoned fields. Soil carbon and nitrogen content were retarded in 3–5 years and microbial biomass was retarded in the fifth year by introducing Melilotus suaveolens . Overall, the restoration practices of planting legumes can significantly affect soil carbon and nitrogen contents, and the biomass, activity, and functional diversity of soil microbial community. Therefore, we propose certain legume species could be used to accelerate ecological restoration of degraded soils, hence assist in the protection and preservation of the environment. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9958-7 Authors Jin Hua Li, State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730020 People’s Republic of China Shu Mei Jiao, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000 People’s Republic of China Rong Qing Gao, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000 People’s Republic of China Richard D. Bardgett, Soil and Ecosystem Ecology Laboratory, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ UK Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Satellite and ground-based data were combined in a monitoring system to quantify the link between climate conditions and the risk of locust infestations in the southern part of Lake Balkhash’s drainage basin in the Republic of Kazakhstan. In this monitoring system, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), derived from the SPOT-VGT satellite, was used for mapping potential locust habitats and monitoring their area throughout 1998 to 2007. TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason 1 altimeter data were used to track the interannual dynamics of water level in Balkhash Lake. Climate conditions were represented by weather records for air temperature and precipitation during the same period. The classification procedure, based on an analysis of multitemporal dynamics of SPOT-VGT NDVI values observed by individual vegetation classes, generated annual areas of ten land-cover types, which were then categorized as areas with low, medium, and high risk for locust infestation. Statistical analyses showed significant influences of the climatic parameters and the Balkhash Lake hydrological regime on the spatial extend of annual areas of potential locust habitats. The results also indicate that the linkages between locust infestation risk and environmental factors are characterized by time lags. The expansion of locust risk areas are usually preceded by dry, hot years and lower water levels in Balkhash Lake when larger areas of reed grass are free from seasonal flooding. Years with such conditions are favourable for locust outbreaks due to expansion of the habitat areas suitable for locust oviposition and nymphal development. In contrast, years with higher water levels in Balkhash Lake and lower temperature decrease the potential locust habitat area. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9950-2 Authors Pavel Propastin, Cartograpphy, GIS and Remote Sensing, George August University Göttingen, Goldschmidt street 5, Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Over the past thirty years, Xishuangbanna in Southwestern China has seen dramatic changes in land use where large areas of tropical forest and fallow land have been converted to rubber and tea plantations. In this study we evaluated the effects of land use and slope on soil properties in seven common disturbed and undisturbed land-types. Results indicated that all soils were acidic, with pH values significantly higher in the 3- and 28-year-old rubber plantations. The tropical forests had the lowest bulk densities, especially significantly lower from the top 10 cm of soil, and highest soil organic matter concentrations. Soil moisture content at topsoil was highest in the mature rubber plantation. Soils in the tropical forests and abandoned cultivated land had inorganic N (IN) concentrations approximately equal in NH 4 + -N and NO 3 − -N. However, soil IN pools were dominated by NH 4 + -N in the rubber and tea plantations. This trend suggests that conversion of tropical forest to rubber and tea plantations increases NH 4 + -N concentration and decreases NO 3 − -N concentration, with the most pronounced effect in plantations that are more frequently fertilized. Soil moisture content, IN, NH 4 + -N and NO 3 − -N concentrations within all sites were higher in the rainy season than in the dry season. Significant differences in the soil moisture content, and IN, NH 4 + -N and NO 3 − -N concentration was detected for both land uses and sampling season effects, as well as interactions. Higher concentrations of NH 4 + -N were measured at the upper slopes of all sites, but NO 3 − -N concentrations were highest at the lower slope in the rubber plantations and lowest at the lower slopes at all other. Thus, the conversion of tropical forests to rubber and tea plantations can have a profound effect on soil NH 4 + -N and NO 3 − -N concentrations. Options for improved soil management in plantations are discussed. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9942-2 Authors Hongmei Li, Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 88 Xuefu Road, Kunming, 650223 People’s Republic of China Youxin Ma, Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 88 Xuefu Road, Kunming, 650223 People’s Republic of China Wenjie Liu, Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 88 Xuefu Road, Kunming, 650223 People’s Republic of China Wenjun Liu, Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 88 Xuefu Road, Kunming, 650223 People’s Republic of China Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description: Erratum to: The Harvest and Management of Migratory Bird Eggs by Inuit in Nunatsiavut, Labrador Content Type Journal Article Category Erratum Pages 1-1 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9962-y Authors David Natcher, Indigenous Land Management Institute, University of Saskatchewan, 51 Campus Drive, Room 2D08, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A8, Canada Larry Felt, Department of Sociology, Memorial University, St. John’s, NF, Canada Keith Chaulk, Labrador Institute, Memorial University, St. John’s, NF, Canada Andrea Procter, Department of Anthropology, Memorial University, St. John’s, NF, Canada Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Three causes have been identified for the spiraling cost of wildfire suppression in the United States: climate change, fuel accumulation from past wildfire suppression, and development in fire-prone areas. Because little is likely to be performed to halt the effects of climate on wildfire risk, and because fuel-management budgets cannot keep pace with fuel accumulation let alone reverse it, changing the behaviors of existing and potential homeowners in fire-prone areas is the most promising approach to decreasing the cost of suppressing wildfires in the wildland–urban interface and increasing the odds of homes surviving wildfire events. Wildfire education efforts encourage homeowners to manage their property to decrease wildfire risk. Such programs may be more effective with a better understanding of the factors related to homeowners’ decisions to undertake wildfire risk–reduction actions. In this study, we measured whether homeowners had implemented 12 wildfire risk–mitigation measures in 2 Colorado Front Range counties. We found that wildfire information received from local volunteer fire departments and county wildfire specialists, as well as talking with neighbors about wildfire, were positively associated with higher levels of mitigation. Firsthand experience in the form of preparing for or undertaking an evacuation was also associated with a higher level of mitigation. Finally, homeowners who perceived higher levels of wildfire risk on their property had undertaken higher levels of wildfire-risk mitigation on their property. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9949-8 Authors Hannah Brenkert-Smith, Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado, UCB 483, Boulder, CO, USA Patricia A. Champ, Rocky Mountain Research Station, US Forest Service, Fort Collins, CO, USA Nicholas Flores, Department of Economics, University of Colorado, UCB 256, Boulder, CO 80309-0483, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    The Tens Rule, as well as the last stage described therein, i.e., the proportion of established species that becomes pests, is frequently perceived by the scientific community to indicate that introduced established species have little impact on communities. This belief is dangerous because it strengthens the perspective of the general public and decision makers that the risks of species introductions are largely overestimated. It is often difficult to detect the actual negative impact of an introduced established species. It might be less apparent or indirect; it might be delayed or masked by the “noise” caused by other anthropogenic disturbances. It is also likely that numerous ecological interactions are still not detected or properly understood. Therefore, the ten-percent rule might be more of an indicator of our lack of understanding of the impacts that established introduced species produce than the actual ratio of such species that produces negative impacts. In such a state of affairs, adopting the precautionary principle is crucial. The scientific community must be much more cautious and responsible regarding the message it delivers to the general public and management authorities. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-3 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9951-1 Authors I. Jarić, Institute for Multidisciplinary Research, University of Belgrade, Kneza Viseslava 1, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia G. Cvijanović, Institute for Multidisciplinary Research, University of Belgrade, Kneza Viseslava 1, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Climate change effects are noticeably evident above the timberline where glacier and permafrost processes and mass movements drive the surface evolution. In particular, the cryosphere shrinkage is deeply changing the features and characteristics of several glacierized mountain areas of the world, and these modifications can also affect the landscape perception of tourists and mountaineers. On the one hand glacier retreat is increasing the interest of tourists and visitors in areas witnessing clear climate change impacts; on the other hand cryosphere shrinkage can impact the touristic appeal of mountain territories which, diminishing their ice and snow coverage, are also losing part of their aesthetic value. Then, to promote glacierized areas in a changing climate and to prepare exhaustive and actual proposals for sustainable tourism, it is important to deepen our knowledge about landscape perception of tourists and mountaineers and their awareness of the ongoing environmental modifications. Here we present the results from a pilot study we performed in summer 2009 on a representative glacierized area of the Alps, the Forni Valley (Stelvio National Park, Lombardy, Italy), a valley shaped by Forni, the largest Italian valley glacier. During the 2009 summer season we asked tourists visiting the Forni Valley to complete a questionnaire. This study was aimed at both describing the features and characteristics of tourists and mountaineers visiting this Alpine zone in summer and evaluating their landscape perception and their ability to recognize climate change impacts and evidence. Our results suggest that the dissemination strategies in a natural protected area have to take into account not only the main landscape features but also the sites where the information will be given. In particular considering the peculiarities of the huts located in the area, such as their different accessibility and the fact that they are included or not in a mountaineering network like that of the Italian Alpine Club. Both these factors can influence the kind of visitors to the area, thus requiring different dissemination strategies. Moreover, differences in the viewpoints from where visitors could watch and understand landscape also have to be considered. Next, in a protected area where climate change effects are evident, the dissemination strategies should be developed in close cooperation with scientists who are analyzing the area and with the support of periodic interviews which could be very useful to evaluate the effectiveness of the applied dissemination methods. Last but not least, the questionnaire should be standardized and distributed in several protected areas, thus permitting useful comparisons and the identification of common solutions for sharing in a friendly way scientific knowledge about climate change and its effects on the environment and the landscape. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9948-9 Authors Valentina Garavaglia, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Mangiagalli 34, 20133 Milan, Italy Guglielmina Diolaiuti, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Mangiagalli 34, 20133 Milan, Italy Claudio Smiraglia, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Mangiagalli 34, 20133 Milan, Italy Vera Pasquale, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Mangiagalli 34, 20133 Milan, Italy Manuela Pelfini, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Mangiagalli 34, 20133 Milan, Italy Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Following turfgrass establishment, soils sequester carbon (C) over time. However, the magnitude of this sequestration may be influenced by a range of climatic and soil factors. Analysis of home lawn turfgrass soils throughout the United States indicated that both climatic and soil properties significantly affected the soil organic carbon (SOC) concentration and pool to 15-cm depth. Soil sampling showed that the mean annual temperature (MAT) was negatively correlated with SOC concentration. Additionally, a nonlinear interaction was observed between mean annual precipitation (MAP) and SOC concentration with optimal sequestration occurring in soils receiving 60–70 cm of precipitation per year. Furthermore, soil properties also influenced SOC concentration. Soil nitrogen (N) had a high positive correlation with SOC concentration, as a 0.1 % increase in N concentration led to a 0.99 % increase in SOC concentration. Additionally, soil bulk density (ρ b ) had a curvilinear interaction with SOC concentration, with an increase in ρ b indicating a positive effect on SOC concentration until a ρ b of ~1.4–1.5 Mg m −3 was attained, after which, inhibition of SOC sequestration occurred. Finally, no correlation between SOC concentration or pool was observed with texture. Based upon these results, highest SOC pools within this study are observed in regions of low MAT, moderate MAP (60–70 cm year −1 ), high soil N concentration, and moderate ρ b (1.4–1.5 Mg m −3 ). In order to maximize the C storage capacity of home lawns, non C-intensive management practices should be used to maintain soils within these conditions. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-16 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9956-9 Authors Adam Selhorst, Carbon Management and Sequestration Center, Ohio State University, 422B Kottman Hall, 2021 Coffey Road, Columbus, OH 43210, USA Rattan Lal, Carbon Management and Sequestration Center, Ohio State University, 422B Kottman Hall, 2021 Coffey Road, Columbus, OH 43210, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Studies on the effects of off-road driving on soils were conducted in the Makuleke Contractual Park of the Kruger National Park. The studies were conducted on three different soils with different textures and soil compactibilities. Traffic pressure was applied with a game drive vehicle loaded with 11 sand bags, each weighing 70 kg. This gave a total vehicle mass of 3,795 kg, simulating a vehicle fully laden with tourists. The study included: (i) comparing of the effects of four different tyre pressures; (ii) comparing the effects of 1–3 vehicle passes over the same tyre tracks; (iii) comparison of traffic effects under dry and wet soil moisture conditions, on soil compaction, respectively. After each pass penetration resistances were measured (a) on the tyre tracks, (b) between the tyre tracks and (c) at different distances outside the tyre tracks. As expected, vehicular traffic caused soil compaction below the wheel tracks. Lower tyre pressures caused less compaction than higher tyre pressures. Fewer vehicle passes also caused less compaction than more passes on the same tracks, but most compaction occurred during the first pass. Thus, driving on the same tracks more than once is less damaging than driving once on different tracks. Controlled traffic should be considered when developing management strategies for off-road driving in wildlife protected areas. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9954-y Authors Gerhardus Petrus Nortjé, Centre for Wildlife Management, University of Pretoria, South Street Lynnwood Pretoria, Pretoria, Gauteng 0002, South Africa Wouter van Hoven, Centre for Wildlife Management, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa Michiel C. Laker, Centre for Wildlife Management, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Agri-environmental measures (AEM) are incentive-based instruments in the European Union (EU) that provide payments to farmers for voluntary environmental commitments related to preserving and enhancing the environment and maintaining the cultural landscape. We review the AEM literature and provide an overview of important research topics, major research results and future challenges as discussed in the available literature concerning these measures. This review contributes to the existing literature by attempting to equally consider ecological and economic perspectives. The reviewed articles are analyzed regarding their regional focus, topics and methods. The analytical section of the article seeks to discuss commonly asked questions about AEM on the basis of results from reviewed studies. The vast amount of available literature provides valuable insights into specific cases and reveals a complex picture with few general conclusions. The existing research is usually either biased toward ecological or economic perspectives and fails to provide a holistic picture of the problems and challenges within agri-environmental programming (e.g., multiple measures, multiple target areas, legal aspects, financial constraints, transaction costs). Most empirical studies provide detailed insights into selected individual measures but are incapable of providing results at a level relevant to decision-making, as they neglect the role of farmers and the available AEM budget. Predominantly economic approaches often only consider rough assumptions of ecological and economic processes and are also not suitable for decision-making. Decision-support tools that build on these disciplinary results and simultaneously consider scheme factors and environmental conditions at high spatial resolution for application by the responsible authorities are rare and require further research. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-16 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9959-6 Authors Sandra Uthes, Institute of Socio-economics, Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Eberswalder Strasse 84, 15374 Müncheberg, Germany Bettina Matzdorf, Institute of Socio-economics, Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Eberswalder Strasse 84, 15374 Müncheberg, Germany Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Knowledge of the causes of forest fires, and of the main driving factors of ignition, is an indispensable step towards effective fire prevention policies. This study analyses the factors driving forest fire ignition in the Mediterranean region including the most common human and environmental factors used for modelling in the European context. Fire ignition factors are compared to spatial and temporal variations of fire occurrence in the region, then are compared to results obtained in other areas of the world, with a special focus on North America (US and Canada) where a significant number of studies has been carried out on this topic. The causes of forest fires are varied and their distribution differs among countries, but may also differ spatially and temporally within the same country. In Europe, and especially in the Mediterranean basin, fires are mostly human-caused mainly due arson. The distance to transport networks and the distance to urban or recreation areas are among the most frequently used human factors in modelling exercises and the Wildland-Urban Interface is increasingly taken into account in the modelling of fire occurrence. Depending on the socio-economic context of the region concerned, factors such as the unemployment rate or variables linked to agricultural activity can explain the ignition of intentional and unintentional fires. Regarding environmental factors, those related to weather, fuel and topography are the most significant drivers of ignition of forest fires, especially in Mediterranean-type regions. For both human and lightning-caused fires, there is a geographical gradient of fire ignition, mainly due to variations in climate and fuel composition but also to population density for instance. The timing of fires depends on their causes. In populated areas, the timing of human-caused fires is closely linked to human activities and peaks in the afternoon whereas, in remote areas, the timing of lightning-caused fires is more linked to weather conditions and the season, with most such fires occurring in summer. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9961-z Authors Anne Ganteaume, IRSTEA, UR EMAX, CS 40061, 13182 Aix-en-Provence, France Andrea Camia, European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), 21027 Ispra, VA, Italy Marielle Jappiot, IRSTEA, UR EMAX, CS 40061, 13182 Aix-en-Provence, France Jesus San-Miguel-Ayanz, European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), 21027 Ispra, VA, Italy Marlène Long-Fournel, IRSTEA, UR EMAX, CS 40061, 13182 Aix-en-Provence, France Corinne Lampin, IRSTEA, UR EMAX, CS 40061, 13182 Aix-en-Provence, France Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Collaborative problem solving has increasingly become important in the face of the complexities in the management of resources, including protected areas. The strategy undertaken by Girringun Aboriginal Corporation in north tropical Queensland, Australia, for developing co-management demonstrates the potential for a problem solving approach involving sequential initiatives, as an alternative to the more familiar negotiated agreements for co-management. Our longitudinal case study focuses on the development of indigenous ranger units as a strategic mechanism for the involvement of traditional owners in managing their country in collaboration with government and other interested parties. This was followed by Australia’s first traditional use of marine resources agreement, and development of a multi-jurisdictional, land to sea, indigenous protected area. In using a relationship building approach to develop regional scale co-management, Girringun has been strengthening its capabilities as collaborator and regional service provider, thus, bringing customary decision-making structures into play to ‘care for country’. From this evolving process we have identified the key components of a relationship building strategy, ‘the pillars of co-management’. This approach includes learning-by-doing, the building of respect and rapport, sorting out responsibilities, practical engagement, and capacity-building. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9845-2 Authors Melanie Zurba, Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, 303-70 Dysart Road, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2M6, Canada Helen Ross, School of Integrative Systems, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia Arturo Izurieta, School for Environmental Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT, Australia Philip Rist, Girringun Aboriginal Corporation, Cardwell, QLD, Australia Ellie Bock, Regional Advisory and Innovation Network (RAIN) Pty Ltd, Mena Creek, QLD, Australia Fikret Berkes, Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, 303-70 Dysart Road, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2M6, Canada Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Anoxia can restrict species establishment in aquatic systems and the artificial promotion of these conditions can provide an effective control strategy for invasive molluscs. Low abundances (2–20 m −2 ) of the nonnative bivalve, Asian clam ( Corbicula fluminea ), were first recorded in Lake Tahoe, CA–NV in 2002 and by 2010 nuisance-level population densities (〉10,000 m −2 ) were observed. A non-chemical control method using gas impermeable benthic barriers to reduce dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations available to C. fluminea was tested in this ultra-oligotrophic natural lake. In 2009, the impact of ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) sheets (9 m 2 , n  = 6) on C. fluminea beds was tested on 1–7 day intervals over a 56 day period (August–September). At an average water temperature of 18 °C, DO concentrations under these small barriers were reduced to zero after 72 h resulting in 100 % C. fluminea mortality after 28 days. In 2010, a large EPDM barrier (1,950 m 2 ) was applied to C. fluminea populations for 120 days (July–November). C. fluminea abundances were reduced over 98 % after barrier removal, and remained significantly reduced (〉90 %) 1 year later. Non-target benthic macroinvertebrate abundances were also reduced, with variable taxon-specific recolonization rates. High C. fluminea abundance under anoxic conditions increased the release of ammonium and soluble reactive phosphorus from the sediment substrate; but levels of unionized ammonia were low at 0.004–0.005 mg L −1 . Prolonged exposure to anoxia using benthic barriers can provide an effective short term control strategy for C. fluminea. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9850-5 Authors Marion E. Wittmann, Tahoe Environmental Research Center, University of California Davis, 291 Country Club Drive, Incline Village, NV 89451, USA Sudeep Chandra, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, University of Nevada Reno, 1664 N. Virginia St., Reno, NV 89512, USA John E. Reuter, Tahoe Environmental Research Center, University of California Davis, 291 Country Club Drive, Incline Village, NV 89451, USA S. Geoffrey Schladow, Tahoe Environmental Research Center, University of California Davis, 291 Country Club Drive, Incline Village, NV 89451, USA Brant C. Allen, Tahoe Environmental Research Center, University of California Davis, 291 Country Club Drive, Incline Village, NV 89451, USA Katie J. Webb, Tahoe Environmental Research Center, University of California Davis, 291 Country Club Drive, Incline Village, NV 89451, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Increasing phosphorus (P) content and decreasing water quality of Saint-Augustin Lake, Quebec City, Canada, has led to implementation of an Integrated Watershed Management Plan to restore the lake. As a part of the plan, the effects of different restoration techniques on lake water quality and biological community (i.e., biological compatibility) were assessed during an isolated water enclosure study and laboratory microcosm assay, respectively. The restoration techniques include: (i) coagulation of P by alum only (20 mg L −1 ), (ii) active capping of sediments using a calcite layer of 10 cm, and (iii) a complete method involving both alum coagulation and calcite capping. The results showed that the total P (TP) was greatly decreased (76–95 %) by alum + calcite, followed by calcite only (59–84 %). Secchi depth was 106 % greater and chlorophyll a concentrations were declined by 19–78 % in the enclosure which received both alum and calcite. Results of the biological compatibility test showed that total phytoplankton biomass declined by 31 % in microcosms composed of alum + calcite. No significant ( P  〉 0.05) toxic effect was found on the survival of Daphnia magna and Hyalella azteca in both alum only and alum + calcite microcosms. Although the alum + calcite technique impaired the survival of Chironomus riparius , the midge emergence was much higher compared to alum only and control. Overall, the alum + calcite application was effective in controlling P release from sediment and lowering water column P concentrations, and thus improving the water quality and aquatic life of Saint-Augustin Lake. However, the TP concentrations are still higher than the critical limit (20 μg L −1 ) for aquatic life and the water column remained in the eutrophic state even after treatment. Increased TP concentrations, to higher than ambient levels of the lake, in the water column of all four enclosures, due to bioturbation artefact triggered by the platform installation, likely cause insufficient dosages of alum and/or calcite applied and reduced their effectiveness. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-17 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9840-7 Authors Rosa Galvez-Cloutier, Department of Civil Engineering, Laval University, Quebec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada Sumathi K. M. Saminathan, Department of Civil Engineering, Laval University, Quebec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada Clotilde Boillot, Department of Civil Engineering, Laval University, Quebec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada Gaëlle Triffaut-Bouchet, Division de l’Écotoxicologie et de l’Évaluation du risque, CEAEQ, Quebec, Canada Alexandre Bourget, Department of Civil Engineering, Laval University, Quebec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada Gabriel Soumis-Dugas, Applied Ecotoxicology Group, CNRC Biotechnology Research Institute, Montreal, QC, Canada Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    We used the conversion of land use and its effects (CLUE-s) model to simulate scenarios of land-cover change in Montane mainland southeast Asia (MMSEA), a region in the midst of transformation due to rapid intensification of agriculture and expansion of regional trade markets. Simulated changes affected approximately 10 % of the MMSEA landscape between 2001 and 2025 and 16 % between 2001 and 2050. Roughly 9 % of the current vegetation, which consists of native species of trees, shrubs, and grasses, is projected to be replaced by tree plantations, tea, and other evergreen shrubs during the 50 years period. Importantly, 4 % of this transition is expected to be due to the expansion of rubber ( Hevea brasiliensis ), a tree plantation crop that may have important implications for local-to-regional scale hydrology because of its potentially high water consumption in the dry season. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9828-3 Authors Jefferson Fox, East–West Center, 1601 East–West Road, Honolulu, HI 96848, USA John B. Vogler, Geography and Earth Sciences, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, NC, USA Omer L. Sen, Eurasia Institute of Earth Sciences, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey Thomas W. Giambelluca, Department of Geography, University of Hawaii, Manoa, HI, USA Alan D. Ziegler, Department of Geography, National University Singapore, 1 Arts Link, Kent Ridge, Singapore, Singapore Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    The possible consequences of global warming on plant communities and ecosystems have wide-ranging ramifications. We examined how environmental change affects plant growth as a function of the variations in the microclimate along an urban–suburban climate gradient for two allergy-inducing, invasive plants, Humulus japonicus and Ambrosia artemisiifolia var. elatior . The environmental factors and plant growth responses were measured at two urban sites (Gangbuk and Seongbuk) and two suburban sites (Goyang and Incheon) around Seoul, South Korea. The mean temperatures and CO 2 concentrations differed significantly between the urban (14.8 °C and 439 ppm CO 2 ) and suburban (13.0 °C and 427 ppm CO 2 ) sites. The soil moisture and nitrogen contents of the suburban sites were higher than those at the urban sites, especially for the Goyang site. The two invasive plants showed significantly higher biomasses and nitrogen contents at the two urban sites. We conducted experiments in a greenhouse to confirm the responses of the plants to increased temperatures, and we found consistently higher growth rates under conditions of higher temperatures. Because we controlled the other factors, the better performance of the two invasive plants appears to be primarily attributable to their responses to temperature. Our study demonstrates that even small temperature changes in the environment can confer significant competitive advantages to invasive species. As habitats become urbanized and warmer, these invasive plants should be able to displace native species, which will adversely affect people living in these areas. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-9 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9852-3 Authors Uhram Song, School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, 151-742 Korea Saeromi Mun, School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, 151-742 Korea Chang-Hoi Ho, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, 151-742 Korea Eun Ju Lee, School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, 151-742 Korea Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Elk (Cervus elaphus) are known to shift habitat use in response to environmental modifications, including those associated with various forms of energy development. The specific behavioral responses underlying these trends, however, have not been effectively studied. To investigate such effects, we examined elk response to habitat alteration near natural gas wells in Las Animas County, Colorado, USA in 2008–2010. We created 10 1-ha openings in forests adjacent to 10 operating natural gas wells by removing standing timber in 2008, with concomitant establishment of 10 1-ha control sites adjacent to the same wells. On each site, we estimated elk use, indexed by pellet density, before and after timber removal. Concurrently, we measured plant production and cover, nutritional quality, species composition and biomass removed by elk and other large herbivores. Species richness and diversity, graminoid and forb cover, and graminoid and forb biomass increased on cut sites following tree removal. Differences were greater in 2010 than in 2009, and elk and deer removed more plant biomass in 2010 than 2009. Elk use of cut sites was 37 % lower than control sites in 2009, but 46 % higher in 2010. The initially lower use of cut sites may be attributable to lack of winter forage on these sites caused by timber removal and associated surface modification. The increased use of cut sites in 2010 suggested that elk possessed the behavioral capacity, over time, to exploit enhanced forage resources in the proximity of habitat modifications and human activity associated with maintenance of operating natural gas wells. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9927-1 Authors Fred Van Dyke, Department of Biology, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL 60187, USA Autumn Fox, Department of Biology, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL 60187, USA Seth M. Harju, Hayden-Wing Associates, LLC, 2308 S. Eighth Street, Laramie, WY 82073, USA Matthew R. Dzialak, Hayden-Wing Associates, LLC, 2308 S. Eighth Street, Laramie, WY 82073, USA Larry D. Hayden-Wing, Hayden-Wing Associates, LLC, 2308 S. Eighth Street, Laramie, WY 82073, USA Jeffrey B. Winstead, Hayden-Wing Associates, LLC, 2308 S. Eighth Street, Laramie, WY 82073, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Cadillac Mountain—the highest peak along the eastern seaboard of the United States—is a major tourist destination in Acadia National Park, Maine. Managing vegetation impact due to trampling on the Cadillac Mountain summit is extremely challenging because of the large number of visitors and the general open nature of landscape in this fragile subalpine environmental setting. Since 2000, more intensive management strategies—based on placing physical barriers and educational messages for visitors—have been employed to protect threatened vegetation, decrease vegetation impact, and enhance vegetation recovery in the vicinity of the summit loop trail. The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of the management strategies employed. For this purpose, vegetation cover changes between 2001 and 2007 were detected using multispectral high spatial resolution remote sensing data sets. A normalized difference vegetation index was employed to identify the rates of increase and decrease in the vegetation areas. Three buffering distances (30, 60, and 90 m) from the edges of the trail were used to define multiple spatial extents of the site, and the same spatial extents were employed at a nearby control site that had no visitors. No significant differences were detected between the mean rates of vegetation increase and decrease at the experimental site compared with a nearby control site in the case of a small spatial scale (≤30 m) comparison (in all cases P  〉 0.05). However, in the medium (≤60 m) and large (≤90 m) spatial scales, the rates of increased vegetation were significantly greater and rates of decreased vegetation significantly lower at the experimental site compared with the control site (in all cases P  〈 0.001). Research implications are explored that relate to the spatial extent of the radial patterns of impact of trampling on vegetation at the site level. Management implications are explored in terms of the spatial strategies used to decrease the impact of trampling on vegetation. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9905-7 Authors Min-Kook Kim, Natural Resources/Recreation Management Program, Department of Integrated Science and Technology, Marshall University, Huntington, WV 25755, USA John J. Daigle, Parks, Recreation and Tourism Program, School of Forest Resources, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Mapping is a basic requirement for land use management, as effective protection of nature requires a clear delimitation of the sites involved. Additionally, mapping has other benefits for the transfer of information, as long as it is a comprehensible way of information exchange. The knowledge of geoheritage (geological heritage) and how it can be incorporated into the management of natural areas is an emerging topic. In this paper, a methodology that can be used to map geoheritage is proposed through the example of the Regional Park of Picos de Europa (Spain). Cartography is designed to be used as a tool for both prescriptive geoheritage management and land use planning processes in the protected area. The current examples of mapping consist of two groups of maps: (1) basic descriptive maps, where geosites are represented and which offer an overview of the geoheritage in the territory and (2) applied derived maps, which use the previous base cartography but also implement specific queries for management. Information codified in the derived maps may be diverse, ranging from the geosite degradation risk to the most adequate geosite use. The designed maps also achieve an important aim: They are easily interpreted and, therefore, might be used by many different professionals involved in environmental management. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-18 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9915-5 Authors Inés Fuertes-Gutiérrez, Biodiversity and Environmental Management, Facultad de CC. Biológicas y Ambientales, University of León, Campus de Vegazana, s/n León, 24071 León, Spain Esperanza Fernández-Martínez, Geology and Geography, University of León, Campus de Vegazana, s/n León, 24071 León, Spain Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Headwater streams are critical components of the stream network, yet landowner perceptions, attitudes, and property management behaviors surrounding these intermittent and ephemeral streams are not well understood. Our research uses the concept of watershed disproportionality, where coupled social-biophysical conditions bear a disproportionate responsibility for harmful water quality outcomes, to analyze the potential influence of riparian landowner perceptions and attitudes on water quality in headwater regions. We combine social science survey data, aerial imagery, and an analysis of spatial point processes to assess the relationship between riparian landowner perceptions and attitudes in relation to stream flow regularity. Stream flow regularity directly and positively shapes landowners’ water quality concerns, and also positively influences landowners’ attitudes of stream importance—a key determinant of water quality concern as identified in a path analysis. Similarly, riparian landowners who do not notice or perceive a stream on their property are likely located in headwater regions. Our findings indicate that landowners of headwater streams, which are critical areas for watershed-scale water quality, are less likely to manage for water quality than landowners with perennial streams in an obvious, natural channel. We discuss the relationships between streamflow and how landowners develop understandings of their stream, and relate this to the broader water quality implications of headwater stream mismanagement. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9928-0 Authors Andrea Armstrong, Department of Sociology, Social Work & Anthropology, Utah State University, 0730 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322-0730, USA Richard C. Stedman, Department of Natural Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA Joseph A. Bishop, Riparia, Penn State University, University Park, State College, PA 16802, USA Patrick J. Sullivan, Department of Natural Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    The need for cross-disciplinary scientific inquiries that facilitate improved natural resource management outcomes through increased understanding of both the biophysical and human dimensions of management issues has been widely recognized. Despite this broad recognition, a number of obstacles and barriers still sometimes challenge the successful implementation of cross-disciplinary approaches. Improving understanding of these challenges and barriers will help address them and thereby foster appropriate and effective utilization of cross-disciplinary approaches to solve natural resource management challenges. This research uses a case study analysis of the United States National Estuarine Research Reserve System to improve understanding of the critical factors that influence practitioners’ decisions related to incorporating social science into their natural resource management work. The case study research is analyzed and evaluated within a Theory of Planned Behavior framework to (1) determine and describe the factors that predict practitioners’ intent to incorporate social science into their natural resource related activities and (2) recommend potential strategies for encouraging and enabling cross-disciplinary approaches to natural resource management. The results indicate that National Estuarine Research Reserve practitioners’ decisions related to incorporating social science are primarily influenced by (1) confidence in their own capability to incorporate social science into their work and (2) beliefs about whether the outcomes of incorporating social science into their work would be valuable or beneficial. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9930-6 Authors Patrick Robinson, University of Wisconsin-Extension, UW Green Bay Campus MAC 212, 2420 Nicolet Drive, Green Bay, WI 54311, USA Ken Genskow, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA Bret Shaw, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA Robin Shepard, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    In the Laurentian Great Lakes Basin (GLB), corn acreage has been expanding since 2005 in response to high demand for corn as an ethanol feedstock. This study integrated remote sensing-derived products and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) within a geographic information system (GIS) modeling environment to assess the impacts of cropland change on sediment yield within four selected watersheds in the GLB. The SWAT models were calibrated during a 6 year period (2000–2005), and predicted stream flows were validated. The R 2 values were 0.76, 0.80, 0.72, and 0.81 for the St. Joseph River, the St. Mary River, the Peshtigo River, and the Cattaraugus Creek watersheds, respectively. The corresponding E (Nash and Sutcliffe model efficiency coefficient) values ranged from 0.24 to 0.79. The average annual sediment yields (tons/ha/year) ranged from 0.12 to 4.44 for the baseline (2000 to 2008) condition. Sediment yields were predicted to increase for possible future cropland change scenarios. The first scenario was to convert all “other” agricultural row crop types (i.e., sorghum) to corn fields and switch the current/baseline crop rotation into continuous corn. The average annual sediment yields increased 7–42 % for different watersheds. The second scenario was to further expand the corn planting to hay/pasture fields. The average annual sediment yields increased 33–127 % compared with baseline conditions. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9903-9 Authors Yang Shao, Department of Geography, Virginia Tech, 115 Major Williams Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA Ross S. Lunetta, National Exposure Research Laboratory, United States Environmental Protection Agency, 109 T.W. Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA Alexander J. Macpherson, Office of Air Quality and Planning Standards, United States Environmental Protection Agency, 109 T.W. Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA Junyan Luo, Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48823, USA Guo Chen, Department of Geography, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description: Erratum to: Restoring Ecological Integrity in Highly Regulated Rivers: The Role of Baseline Data and Analytical References Content Type Journal Article Category Erratum Pages 1-1 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9916-4 Authors Peter W. Downs, Department of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus Plymouth PL4 8AA, Plymouth, UK Maia S. Singer, Stillwater Sciences, Berkeley, CA, USA Bruce K. Orr, Stillwater Sciences, Berkeley, CA, USA Zooey E. Diggory, Stillwater Sciences, Berkeley, CA, USA Tamara C. Church, Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA John C. Stella, Department of Forest and Natural Resources Management, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, One Forestry Drive, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    An on-site visitor survey instrument was developed to examine visitor perceptions of resource impacts resulting from backcountry hiking activities. The survey was conducted in the Bear Lake Corridor of Rocky Mountain National Park, CO and examined visitor characteristics that may influence visitor perceptions of specific resource conditions. Findings indicate that visitors are more perceptive of recreation-related resource impacts that are the result of undesirable behavior and, while visitors do perceive resource impacts, visitors tend to be more affected by crowding. Factors such as local ecological knowledge and knowledge of minimal-impact practices positively influence visitor perceptions of resource impacts. These findings support the use of visitor education on ecological knowledge and minimum-impact as a means of increasing visitor awareness of recreation impact issues. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9910-x Authors Ashley D’Antonio, Environment and Society, Utah State University, 5215 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322, USA Christopher Monz, College of Natural Resources, Utah State University, 5205 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322-5205, USA Peter Newman, Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, 233 Forestry Building, Campus Delivery 1480, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA Steve Lawson, Resource Systems Group, Inc., 55 Railroad Row, White River Junction, White River Junction, VT 05001, USA Derrick Taff, Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, 233 Forestry Building, Campus Delivery 1480, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Accurate monitoring of the effectiveness of protected areas (PAs) in decreasing deforestation is increasingly important given the vital role of forest protection in climate change mitigation. Recent studies on PA effectiveness have used remote-sensing imagery to compare deforestation rates within PAs to surrounding areas. However, remote-sensing data used in isolation provides limited information on the factors contributing to effectiveness. We used landscape-modelling techniques to estimate the effectiveness of ten PAs in Madre de Dios, Peru. Factors influencing PA effectiveness were investigated using in situ key-informant interviews. Although all of the PAs studied had positive effectiveness scores, those with the highest scores were ecotourism and conservation concessions, where monitoring and surveillance activities and good relations with surrounding communities were reported as possible factors in decreasing deforestation rates. Native community areas had the lowest scores, with deforestation mainly driven by internal resource use and population growth. Weak local governance and immigration were identified as underlying factors decreasing the effectiveness of protection, whereas good relations with surrounding communities and monitoring activity increased effectiveness. The results highlight the need to combine remote sensing with in situ information on PA management because identification of drivers and deterrents of deforestation is vital for improving the effectiveness of protection. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-19 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9901-y Authors Anni Johanna Vuohelainen, Proforest, South Suite, Frewin Chambers, Frewin Court, Oxford, OX1 3HZ UK Lauren Coad, School of Geography, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QY UK Toby R. Marthews, School of Geography, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QY UK Yadvinder Malhi, School of Geography, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QY UK Timothy J. Killeen, Conservation International, Washington, DC, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Hydrothermal ecosystems are of high conservation and scientific value, but they are sensitive to external perturbations that result from development. This study examines the composition of vegetation at four plots at the Wairakei–Tauhara geothermal field, New Zealand, using the Scott height-frequency method, ground temperatures at 0.1- and 1-m depth, soil pH, and photographic surveys. It highlights the response of plant communities, in particular that of Kunzea ericoides var. microflora , in terms of composition, structure, and biomass index values, measures changes in ground temperature, as well as provides baseline data against which to compare future changes. It was found that optimal growing conditions for K. ericoides var. microflora are at temperatures above background conditions with a slightly acidic pH. Plots with cooler, less acidic conditions support more diverse plant communities, which also promote the establishment of invasive species. This suggests that the largest threats to thermotolerant vegetation in New Zealand, including K. ericoides var. microflora , are further decreases in ground temperature because the establishment of invasive species may result in thermolerant vegetation being out-competed in hydrothermal ecosystems. Recognising and understanding the ecological diversity and dynamics of hydrothermal ecosystems, as well as acknowledging the competing interests between development and conservation, is key to the management and protection of these areas. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-21 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9899-1 Authors Saskia M. van Manen, GNS Science, Private Bag 2000, Taupo, 3352 New Zealand Robert Reeves, GNS Science, Private Bag 2000, Taupo, 3352 New Zealand Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Sediment transport from steep slopes and agricultural lands into the Uluabat Lake (a RAMSAR site) by the Mustafakemalpasa (MKP) River is a serious problem within the river basin. Predictive erosion models are useful tools for evaluating soil erosion and establishing soil erosion management plans. The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) function is a commonly used erosion model for this purpose in Turkey and the rest of the world. This research integrates the RUSLE within a geographic information system environment to investigate the spatial distribution of annual soil loss potential in the MKP River Basin. The rainfall erosivity factor was developed from local annual precipitation data using a modified Fournier index: The topographic factor was developed from a digital elevation model; the K factor was determined from a combination of the soil map and the geological map; and the land cover factor was generated from Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM) images. According to the model, the total soil loss potential of the MKP River Basin from erosion by water was 11,296,063 Mg year −1 with an average soil loss of 11.2 Mg year −1 . The RUSLE produces only local erosion values and cannot be used to estimate the sediment yield for a watershed. To estimate the sediment yield, sediment-delivery ratio equations were used and compared with the sediment-monitoring reports of the Dolluk stream gauging station on the MKP River, which collected data for 〉41 years (1964–2005). This station observes the overall efficiency of the sediment yield coming from the Orhaneli and Emet Rivers. The measured sediment in the Emet and Orhaneli sub-basins is 1,082,010 Mg year −1 and was estimated to be 1,640,947 Mg year −1 for the same two sub-basins. The measured sediment yield of the gauge station is 127.6 Mg km −2  year −1 but was estimated to be 170.2 Mg km −2 year −1 . The close match between the sediment amounts estimated using the RUSLE–geographic information system (GIS) combination and the measured values from the Dolluk sediment gauge station shows that the potential soil erosion risk of the MKP River Basin can be estimated correctly and reliably using the RUSLE function generated in a GIS environment. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-16 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9904-8 Authors Gokhan Ozsoy, Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, Faculty of Agriculture, Uludag University, Gorukle Campus, Nilufer, Bursa, 16059 Turkey Ertugrul Aksoy, Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, Faculty of Agriculture, Uludag University, Gorukle Campus, Nilufer, Bursa, 16059 Turkey M. Sabri Dirim, Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, Faculty of Agriculture, Uludag University, Gorukle Campus, Nilufer, Bursa, 16059 Turkey Zeynal Tumsavas, Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, Faculty of Agriculture, Uludag University, Gorukle Campus, Nilufer, Bursa, 16059 Turkey Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Since the 1950s, there has been a continuous increase in the number and coverage of protected areas (PAs) in Iran, and in total 253 PAs have been declared that cover 10.12 % of the country’s area. This paper reviews literature addressing Iran’s PAs, examines what is known about them, highlights the challenges and lessons learned, and identifies areas where more research is needed. The PA system in Iran is criticized because of (1) shortages of manpower, equipment, and financial resources; (2) de jure PAs that are often implemented as de facto reserves; (3) lack of national biodiversity indicators and objective monitoring processes; and (4) limited public participation and conflict between people over PAs. To improve, Iran’s PAs system needs to be realistically supported by policies and planning instruments. In addition, the implementation of active management to restore habitat, increase education and awareness, shift practices towards the guidelines of international organizations, build capacity, and improve management and co-management by local communities needs to occur. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-16 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9895-5 Authors Mahdi Kolahi, Department of Social Informatics, Kyoto University, Yoshida Honmachi, Kyoto, 606-8501 Japan Tetsuro Sakai, Department of Social Informatics, Kyoto University, Yoshida Honmachi, Kyoto, 606-8501 Japan Kazuyuki Moriya, Department of Social Informatics, Kyoto University, Yoshida Honmachi, Kyoto, 606-8501 Japan Majid F. Makhdoum, Faculty of Natural Resources, Tehran University, Karaj, Iran Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Japanese knotweed s.l. are some of the most invasive plants in the world. Some genotypes are known to be tolerant to the saline concentrations found in salt marshes. Here we focus on tolerance to higher concentrations in order to assess whether the species are able to colonize and establish in highly stressful environments, or whether salt is an efficient management tool. In a first experiment, adult plants of Fallopia japonica , Fallopia  ×  bohemica and Fallopia sachalinensis were grown under salt stress conditions by watering with saline concentrations of 6, 30, 120, or 300 g L −1 for three weeks to assess the response of the plants to a spill of salt. At the two highest concentrations, their leaves withered and fell. There were no effects on the aboveground parts at the lowest concentrations. Belowground dry weight and number of buds were reduced from 30 and 120 g L −1 of salt, respectively. In a second experiment, a single spraying of 120 g L −1 of salt was applied to individuals of F . ×  bohemica and their stems were clipped to assess the response to a potential control method. 60 % of the plants regenerated. Regeneration was delayed by the salt treatment and shoot growth slowed down. This study establishes the tolerance of three Fallopia taxa to strong salt stress, with no obvious differences between taxa. Their salt tolerance could be an advantage in their ability to colonize polluted environments and to survive to spills of salt. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-8 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9934-2 Authors Soraya Rouifed, Université de Lyon, UMR5023 Ecologie des Hydrosystèmes Naturels et Anthropisés, Université Lyon 1, ENTPE, CNRS, 6 rue Raphaël Dubois, 69622 Villeurbanne, France Coline Byczek, Université de Lyon, UMR5023 Ecologie des Hydrosystèmes Naturels et Anthropisés, Université Lyon 1, ENTPE, CNRS, 6 rue Raphaël Dubois, 69622 Villeurbanne, France Daniel Laffray, University Paris Est Creteil, IBIOS UMR Bioemco 7618, 61 avenue du Général de Gaulle F-94010, Creteil, France Florence Piola, Université de Lyon, UMR5023 Ecologie des Hydrosystèmes Naturels et Anthropisés, Université Lyon 1, ENTPE, CNRS, 6 rue Raphaël Dubois, 69622 Villeurbanne, France Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    The historical floods that have occurred since the seventeenth century were collected for a study area in southern Italy. Damages caused by floods, rainfall and the main anthropogenic modifications are discussed all together. The aim was to assess whether the frequency of floods is changing and, if so, whether these changes can be attributed to either rainfall and/or anthropogenic modifications. In 4 % of cases, mainly occurred in past centuries, floods damaged people. Hydraulic works, roads and private buildings were the more frequently damaged elements (25, 18 and 14 % of the cases, respectively). The annual variability of rainfall was discussed using an annual index. Short duration-high intensity rainfalls were characterized considering time series of annual maxima of 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 h and daily rainfall. The rainfall shows a decreasing trend, in terms of both the annual maximum of short duration and the annual amount. The population has been progressively increasing since the sixteenth century, except during the years following the catastrophic 1908 earthquake. The rate of population growth has been very high since the second half of the twentieth century; the urbanized areas greatly increased, especially following the second half of the twentieth century. At the same time, the trend of damaging floods has been increasing, especially since the seventies. The analysis indicates that, despite a rainfall trend favourable towards a reduction in flood occurrence, floods damage has not decreased. This seems to be mainly the effect of mismanagement of land use modifications. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9935-1 Authors Olga Petrucci, CNR-IRPI, Cosenza, Via Cavour 4/6, 87030 Rende, CS, Italy A. Aurora Pasqua, CNR-IRPI, Cosenza, Via Cavour 4/6, 87030 Rende, CS, Italy Maurizio Polemio, CNR-IRPI, Bari, Via Amendola 122/I, 70126 Bari, Italy Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Endogeneity bias arises in contingent valuation studies when the error term in the willingness to pay (WTP) equation is correlated with explanatory variables because observable and unobservable characteristics of the respondents affect both their WTP and the value of those variables. We correct for the endogeneity of variables that capture previous experience with the resource valued, humpback whales, and with the geographic area of study. We consider several endogenous behavioral variables. Therefore, we apply a multivariate Probit approach to jointly model them with WTP. In this case, correcting for endogeneity increases econometric efficiency and substantially corrects the bias affecting the estimated coefficients of the experience variables, by isolating the decreasing effect on option value caused by having already experienced the resource. Stark differences are unveiled between the marginal effects on WTP of previous experience of the resource in an alternative location versus experience in the location studied, Newfoundland and Labrador (Canada). Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-18 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9937-z Authors Nikita Lyssenko, Department of Economics, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL A1C 5S7, Canada Roberto Martínez-Espiñeira, Department of Economics, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL A1C 5S7, Canada Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Identifying appropriate spatial scales is critically important for assessing health, attributing data, and guiding management actions for rivers. We describe a process for identifying a three-level hierarchy of spatial scales for Michigan rivers. Additionally, we conduct a variance decomposition of fish occurrence, abundance, and assemblage metric data to evaluate how much observed variability can be explained by the three spatial scales as a gage of their utility for water resources and fisheries management. The process involved the development of geographic information system programs, statistical models, modification by experienced biologists, and simplification to meet the needs of policy makers. Altogether, 28,889 reaches, 6,198 multiple-reach segments, and 11 segment classes were identified from Michigan river networks. The segment scale explained the greatest amount of variation in fish abundance and occurrence, followed by segment class, and reach. Segment scale also explained the greatest amount of variation in 13 of the 19 analyzed fish assemblage metrics, with segment class explaining the greatest amount of variation in the other six fish metrics. Segments appear to be a useful spatial scale/unit for measuring and synthesizing information for managing rivers and streams. Additionally, segment classes provide a useful typology for summarizing the numerous segments into a few categories. Reaches are the foundation for the identification of segments and segment classes and thus are integral elements of the overall spatial scale hierarchy despite reaches not explaining significant variation in fish assemblage data. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9938-y Authors Lizhu Wang, Institute for Fisheries Research, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, University of Michigan, 1109N University, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA Travis Brenden, Quantitative Fisheries Center, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, 153 Giltner Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824-1101, USA Yong Cao, Illinois Natural History Survey, University of Illinois, 1816 S Oak Street, Champaign, IL 61820, USA Paul Seelbach, Institute for Fisheries Research, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, University of Michigan, 1109N University, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    This paper presents the results of collaborative research conducted in 2007 on the harvest of migratory bird eggs by Inuit households of Nunatsiavut, Labrador. Harvest variability between communities and species is examined, as is the social and ecological factors affecting the 2007 Inuit egg harvest. Representing the first comprehensive account of Inuit egg use in Labrador, this information should be valuable to agencies responsible for managing migratory bird populations in North America and will contribute to a more informed understanding of the complexity and temporal variability in subsistence harvesting among Labrador Inuit. It is argued that the recognition of this complexity will be critical as the Nunatsiavut Government and other wildlife management agencies formulate management policies that are supportive rather, than constraining, to Inuit resource use in the future. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-10 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9939-x Authors David Natcher, Indigenous Land Management Institute, University of Saskatchewan, 51 Campus Drive, Room 2D08, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A8, Canada Larry Felt, Department of Sociology, Memorial University, St. John’s, NF, Canada Keith Chaulk, Labrador Institute, Memorial University, St. John’s, NF, Canada Andrea Procter, Department of Anthropology, Memorial University, St. John’s, NF, Canada Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    We measured biomass and metabolism of epilithic communities on five dates in different seasons at four sites in a watershed that has received extensive restoration for acid mine drainage (AMD) through the construction of passive treatment systems. Chlorophyll a biomass and productivity directly corresponded to AMD stress from coal mining. The site downstream of extensive passive treatment had significantly greater biomass and gross primary productivity rates than the site receiving only untreated AMD, but values were below those for two reference sites, indicating incomplete recovery. The degree of difference in these metrics among sites varied seasonally, primarily related to differences in canopy cover changes, but the ranking of sites in terms of stress generally was consistent. Reference sites had a significantly greater chlorophyll a /pheophytin ratio than untreated and treated sites, also indicating AMD stressed the communities. Community respiration was less affected by AMD stress than productivity or chlorophyll a . Productivity measures are not widely used to assess AMD impacts, and have been shown to both increase and decrease with AMD stress. The elimination of herbivores in AMD-impacted streams can increase productivity in the benthic algal community. Our study found productivity decreased with increasing AMD stress. Although sites with AMD stress had reduced herbivore populations, light, nutrients and metal precipitates appear to have limited growth of AMD-tolerant algal taxa. Therefore, it appears changes in food web structure due to AMD stress had less of an effect on epilithic productivity than environmental conditions within the stream. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9936-0 Authors Dean M. DeNicola, Department of Biology, Slippery Rock University, 1 Morrow Way, Slippery Rock, PA 16057, USA Lee Layton, Department of Biology, Slippery Rock University, 1 Morrow Way, Slippery Rock, PA 16057, USA Tiffaney R. Czapski, Department of Biology, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Managers of the nearly 0.5 million ha of public lands in North and South Dakota, USA rely heavily on manual measurements of canopy height in autumn to ensure conservation of grassland structure for wildlife and forage for livestock. However, more comprehensive assessment of vegetation structure could be achieved for mixed-grass prairie by integrating field survey, topographic position (summit, mid and toeslope) and spectral reflectance data. Thus, we examined the variation of mixed-grass prairie structural attributes (canopy leaf area, standing crop mass, canopy height, nitrogen, and water content) and spectral vegetation indices (VIs) with variation in topographic position at the Grand River National Grassland (GRNG), South Dakota. We conducted the study on a 36,000-ha herbaceous area within the GRNG, where randomly selected plots (1 km 2 in size) were geolocated and included summit, mid and toeslope positions. We tested for effects of topographic position on measured vegetation attributes and VIs calculated from Landsat TM and Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) data collected in July 2010. Leaf area, standing crop mass, canopy height, nitrogen, and water content were lower at summits than at toeslopes. The simple ratio of Landsat Band 7/Band 1 (SR71) was the VI most highly correlated with canopy standing crop and height at plot and landscape scales. Results suggest field and remote sensing-based grassland assessment techniques could more comprehensively target low structure areas at minimal expense by layering modeled imagery over a landscape stratified into topographic position groups. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-15 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9931-5 Authors Rebecca L. Phillips, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), 1701 10th Avenue nw, Mandan, ND 58554, USA Moffatt K. Ngugi, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), 1701 10th Avenue nw, Mandan, ND 58554, USA John Hendrickson, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), 1701 10th Avenue nw, Mandan, ND 58554, USA Aaron Smith, Ducks Unlimited, 2525 River Road, Bismarck, ND 58503, USA Mark West, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), 2150 Centre Avenue, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    The likelihood of participating in wildlife conservation programs is dependent on social influences and circumstances. This view is validated by a case study of behavioral intention to support conservation of Asian turtles. A total of 776 college students in China completed a questionnaire survey designed to identify factors associated with their intention to support conservation. A regression model explained 48 % of variance in the level of intention. Perceived social expectation was the strongest predictor, followed by attitudes toward turtle protection and perceived behavioral control, altogether explaining 44 %. Strong ethics and socio-economic variables had some statistical significant impacts and accounted for 3 % of the variance. The effects of general environmental awareness, trust and responsibility ascription were modest. Knowledge about turtles was a weak predictor. We conclude that perceived social expectation is a limiting factor of conservation behavior. Sustained interest and commitment to conservation can be created by enhancing positive social influences. Conservation educators should explore the potential of professionally supported, group-based actions that can nurture a sense of collective achievement as part of an educational campaign. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9926-2 Authors Alex Y. Lo, Griffith School of Environment, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD 4222, Australia Alex T. Chow, Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science, Clemson University, Georgetown, SC, USA Sze Man Cheung, Asia Turtle Rehabilitation Project, Fanling, NT, Hong Kong Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Intensive agricultural development can change land use, which can further affect regional ecosystem services and functions. With the rapid growth of the population and the national demand for food, the northeast of China, which is located in the high latitudes, has experienced four agricultural developments since the 1950s. The original wetlands of this area were developed for farmland. The evaluation of ecosystem services is conducted to reveal the ecosystem status and variable trends caused by land reclamation. The aim of this study is to provide scientific basis for environmental management and for the sustainable development of agriculture in Northeast China. With GIS-RS technology, a typical farm was chosen to analyze variations in the ecosystem service value in response to land use changes during the study period. The total ecosystem service value of the farm decreased from 7523.10 million Yuan in 1979 to 4023.59 million Yuan in 2009 with an annual rate of −1.6 % due to the decreasing areas of woodland and wetland. The increased areas of cropland, water area and grassland partly offset the loss of the total value, but the loss was still greater than the compensation. Waste treatment and climate regulation were the top two service functions with high service values, contributing to approximately 50 % of the total service value. The spatial difference of the ecosystem service value also was analyzed. The wetlands located in the central and northeastern sections of the farm changed significantly. From the aspect of ecosystem service value, the wetland and water area should be conserved, as they have the highest value coefficients. The accuracy of the value coefficient, however, needs to be studied further in future research. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9923-5 Authors Fanghua Hao, State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875 China Xuehui Lai, State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875 China Wei Ouyang, State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875 China Yiming Xu, State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875 China Xinfeng Wei, State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875 China Kaiyu Song, State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875 China Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    The Pampa in Argentina is a large plain with a quite obvious dependence on agriculture, water availability and its quality. It is a sensitive environment due to weather changes and slope variations. Supplementary irrigation is a useful practice for compensating the production in the zone. However, potential negative impacts of this type of irrigation in salinization and sodification of soils are evident. Most conventional methodologies for assessing water irrigation quality have difficulties in their application in the region because they do not adjust to the defined assumptions for them. Consequently, a new GIS-based methodology integrating multiparametric data was proposed for evaluating and delineating groundwater suitability zones for irrigation purposes in flat areas. Hydrogeological surveys including water level measurements, groundwater samples for chemical analysis and electrical conductivity (EC) measurements were performed. The combination of EC, sodium adsorption ratio, residual sodium carbonate, slopes and hydraulic gradient parameters generated an irrigation water index (IWI). With the integration of the IWI 1 to 3 classes (categories of suitable waters for irrigation) and the aquifer thickness the restricted irrigation water index (RIWI) was obtained. The IWI′s index application showed that 61.3 % of the area has “Very high” to “Moderate” potential for irrigation, while the 31.4 % of it has unsuitable waters. Approximately, 46 % of the tested area has high suitability for irrigation and moderate groundwater availability. This proposed methodology has advantages over traditional methods because it allows for better discrimination in homogeneous areas. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9891-9 Authors Asunción Romanelli, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), Mar del Plata, Argentina María Lourdes Lima, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), Mar del Plata, Argentina Orlando Mauricio Quiroz Londoño, Instituto de Geología de Costas y del Cuaternario, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, FCEyN, Funes 3350, Nivel 1, 7600 Mar del Plata, Argentina Daniel Emilio Martínez, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), Mar del Plata, Argentina Héctor Enrique Massone, Instituto de Geología de Costas y del Cuaternario, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, FCEyN, Funes 3350, Nivel 1, 7600 Mar del Plata, Argentina Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Off-highway vehicle (OHV) riding is among the fastest growing recreational activities in the United States. However, little research exists about the central components of outcomes-focused management (OFM) as it relates to motorized recreation. Utilizing a two-activity dichotomy, OHV and non-OHV centric user groups were compared on several key concepts associated with OFM, including desired experiences, perceived and desired recreation opportunity spectrum-type settings, and intentional behaviors (i.e., place-protective behavior, spending-time intentions) toward potential changes in settings. Results indicated that the two groups were different in terms of intensity and relative rankings of their perceived experiences and settings. Although both groups preferred social bonding, stress relief, nostalgia and learning experiences, the OHV user group ranked using equipment and achieving physical fitness experiences as more important than the non-OHV group. The non-OHV user group preferred enjoying nature and solitude/tranquility experiences more strongly than the OHV user group. Further analysis found that both groups perceived settings that they recreated in to be pristine and preferred such conditions, and both groups preferred moderate levels of rules and regulations. Finally, the OHV user group was more reactive to rules and regulations, while the non-OHV user group expressed stronger intentions to protect the environmental quality of recreation areas. The results suggest that planners and managers who understand OHV user’s perceptions and behaviors could provide enhanced recreation opportunities potentially providing additional beneficial outcomes for motorized and non-motorized groups in spatially different zones. Additional implications for planners and managers and future studies are discussed. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-16 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9892-8 Authors Namyun Kil, Department of Tourism Management, Woosong University, 17-2 Jayang-dong, Dong-gu, Daejeon, 300-718 South Korea Stephen M. Holland, Department of Tourism, Recreation and Sport Management, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA Taylor V. Stein, School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Watershed-wide land-cover proportions can be used to predict the in-stream non–point source pollutant loadings through regression modeling. However, the model performance can vary greatly across different study sites and among various watersheds. Existing literature has shown that this type of regression modeling tends to perform better for large watersheds than for small ones, and that such a performance variation has been largely linked with different interwatershed landscape heterogeneity levels. The purpose of this study is to further examine the previously mentioned empirical observation based on a set of watersheds in the northern part of Georgia (USA) to explore the underlying causes of the variation in model performance. Through the combined use of the neutral landscape modeling approach and a spatially explicit nutrient loading model, we tested whether the regression model performance variation over the watershed groups ranging in size is due to the different watershed landscape heterogeneity levels. We adopted three neutral landscape modeling criteria that were tied with different similarity levels in watershed landscape properties and used the nutrient loading model to estimate the nitrogen loads for these neutral watersheds. Then we compared the regression model performance for the real and neutral landscape scenarios, respectively. We found that watershed size can affect the regression model performance both directly and indirectly. Along with the indirect effect through interwatershed heterogeneity, watershed size can directly affect the model performance over the watersheds varying in size. We also found that the regression model performance can be more significantly affected by other physiographic properties shaping nitrogen delivery effectiveness than the watershed land-cover heterogeneity. This study contrasts with many existing studies because it goes beyond hypothesis formulation based on empirical observations and into hypothesis testing to explore the fundamental mechanism. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9897-3 Authors Tao Zhang, Department of Biology, University of Florida, P.O. Box 118525, 220 Bartram Hall, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA Xiaojun Yang, Department of Geography, Florida State University, 113 Collegiate Loop, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    As natural resource management agencies and conservation organizations seek guidance on responding to climate change, myriad potential actions and strategies have been proposed for increasing the long-term viability of some attributes of natural systems. Managers need practical tools for selecting among these actions and strategies to develop a tailored management approach for specific targets at a given location. We developed and present one such tool, the participatory Adaptation for Conservation Targets (ACT) framework, which considers the effects of climate change in the development of management actions for particular species, ecosystems and ecological functions. Our framework is based on the premise that effective adaptation of management to climate change can rely on local knowledge of an ecosystem and does not necessarily require detailed projections of climate change or its effects. We illustrate the ACT framework by applying it to an ecological function in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, USA)—water flows in the upper Yellowstone River. We suggest that the ACT framework is a practical tool for initiating adaptation planning, and for generating and communicating specific management interventions given an increasingly altered, yet uncertain, climate. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9893-7 Authors Molly S. Cross, Wildlife Conservation Society, 301 N. Willson Avenue, Bozeman, MT 59715, USA Erika S. Zavaleta, Environmental Studies Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA Dominique Bachelet, Conservation Biology Institute, Corvallis, OR, USA Marjorie L. Brooks, Department of Zoology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL, USA Carolyn A. F. Enquist, The Wildlife Society, Bethesda, MD, USA Erica Fleishman, Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA Lisa J. Graumlich, College of the Environment, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA Craig R. Groves, The Nature Conservancy, Bozeman, MT, USA Lee Hannah, Center for Applied Biodiversity Science (CABS), Conservation International, Arlington, VA, USA Lara Hansen, EcoAdapt, Bainbridge Island, WA, USA Greg Hayward, Rocky Mountain Regional Office, U.S. Forest Service, 740 Simms Street, Golden, CO, USA Marni Koopman, Geos Institute, Ashland, OR, USA Joshua J. Lawler, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Box 352100, Seattle, WA, USA Jay Malcolm, Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada John Nordgren, Kresge Foundation, Troy, MI, USA Brian Petersen, Michigan State University, Kellogg Biological Station, East Lansing, MI, USA Erika L. Rowland, Wildlife Conservation Society, Tucson, AZ, USA Daniel Scott, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, USA Sarah L. Shafer, U.S. Geological Survey, Corvallis, OR, USA M. Rebecca Shaw, Environmental Defense Fund, San Francisco, CA, USA Gary M. Tabor, Center for Large Landscape Conservation, Bozeman, MT, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    In response to federal administrative rule, the Tahoe National Forest (TNF), California, USA engaged in trail-route prioritization for motorized recreation (e.g., off-highway-vehicles) and other recreation types. The prioritization was intended to identify routes that were suitable and ill-suited for maintenance in a transportation system. A recreational user survey was conducted online ( n  = 813) for user preferences for trail system characteristics, recreational use patterns, and demographics. Motorized trail users and non-motorized users displayed very clear and contrasting preferences for the same system. As has been found by previous investigators, non-motorized users expressed antagonism to motorized use on the same recreational travel system, whereas motorized users either supported multiple-use routes or dismissed non-motorized recreationists’ concerns. To help the TNF plan for reduced conflict, a geographic information system (GIS) based modeling approach was used to identify recreational opportunities and potential environmental impacts of all travel routes. This GIS-based approach was based on an expert-derived rule set. The rules addressed particular environmental and recreation concerns in the TNF. Route segments were identified that could be incorporated into minimal-impact networks to support various types of recreation. The combination of potential impacts and user-benefits supported an optimization approach for an appropriate recreational travel network to minimize environmental impacts and user-conflicts in a multi-purpose system. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-15 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9906-6 Authors Fraser Shilling, Departmenrt of Evironmental Science and Policy, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA Jennifer Boggs, The Wilderness Society, Center for Landscape Analysis, San Francisco, CA, USA Sarah Reed, Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    The ecological integrity of the Wyoming big sagebrush ( Artemisia tridentata Nutt. ssp. wyomingensis Beetle and A. Young) alliance is being severely interrupted by post-fire invasion of non-native annual grasses. To curtail this invasion, successful post-fire revegetation of perennial grasses is required. Environmental factors impacting post-fire restoration success vary across space within the Wyoming big sagebrush alliance; however, most restorative management practices are applied uniformly. Our objectives were to define probability of revegetation success over space using relevant soil-related environmental factors, use this information to model cost of successful revegetation and compare the importance of vegetation competition and soil factors to revegetation success. We studied a burned Wyoming big sagebrush landscape in southeast Oregon that was reseeded with perennial grasses. We collected soil and vegetation data at plots spaced at 30 m intervals along a 1.5 km transect in the first two years post-burn. Plots were classified as successful (〉5 seedlings/m 2 ) or unsuccessful based on density of seeded species. Using logistic regression we found that abundance of competing vegetation correctly predicted revegetation success on 51 % of plots, and soil-related variables correctly predicted revegetation performance on 82.4 % of plots. Revegetation estimates varied from 167.06 to 43,033.94/ha across the 1.5 km transect based on probability of success, but were more homogenous at larger scales. Our experimental protocol provides managers with a technique to identify important environmental drivers of restoration success and this process will be of value for spatially allocating logistical and capital expenditures in a variable restoration environment. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-10 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9894-6 Authors Chad S. Boyd, USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center (EOARC), 67826-A Hwy 205, Burns, OR 97720, USA Kirk W. Davies, USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center (EOARC), 67826-A Hwy 205, Burns, OR 97720, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    “Working landscapes” is the concept of fostering effective ecosystem stewardship and conservation through active human presence and management and integrating livestock, crop, and timber production with the provision of a broad range of ecosystem services at the landscape scale. Based on a statewide survey of private landowners of “working” forests and rangelands in California, we investigated whether owners who are engaged in commercial livestock or timber production appreciate and manage biodiversity and ecosystem services on their land in different ways than purely residential owners. Both specific uses and management practices, as well as underlying attitudes and motivations toward biodiversity and ecosystem services, were assessed. Correlation analysis showed one bundle of ecosystem goods and services (e.g., livestock, timber, crops, and housing) that is supported by some landowners at the community level. Another closely correlated bundle of biodiversity and ecosystem services includes recreation, hunting/fishing, wildlife habitat, and fire prevention. Producers were more likely to ally with the first bundle and residential owners with the second. The survey further confirmed that cultural ecosystem services and quality-of-life aspects are among the primary amenities that motivate forest and rangeland ownership regardless of ownership type. To live near natural beauty was the most important motive for both landowner groups. Producers were much more active in management for habitat improvement and other environmental goals than residential owners. As the number of production-oriented owners decreases, developing strategies for encouraging environment-positive management by all types of landowners is crucial. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9900-z Authors Tobias Plieninger, Ecosystem Services Research Group, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Jägerstrasse 22/23, 10117 Berlin, Germany Shasta Ferranto, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, 130 Mulford Hall MC 3114, Berkeley, CA 94720-3114, USA Lynn Huntsinger, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, 130 Mulford Hall MC 3114, Berkeley, CA 94720-3114, USA Maggi Kelly, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, 130 Mulford Hall MC 3114, Berkeley, CA 94720-3114, USA Christy Getz, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, 130 Mulford Hall MC 3114, Berkeley, CA 94720-3114, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Implementation of policy involves multiple agencies operating at multiple levels in facilitating processes and actions to accomplish desired results. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was developed and implemented to regulate and control international wildlife trade, but violations of the agreement are widespread and growing worldwide, including in Nepal. This study attempts to understand how domestic CITES policies are translated into action and what effect actions and processes have on compliance. In doing so, this study provides insights into the implementation and enforcement pitfalls of national legislation that explain CITES violations in Nepal. Primarily, we used 26 key informants interviews to learn opinions of experts, and the grounded theory approach for further qualitative data analysis. In addition, we used Najman’s (1995) policy implementation analysis framework to explain gaps. Many interrelated variables in the content of the policy, commitment and capacity of the agencies, the roles of clients and coalitions and contextual issues were observed. Variables that emerged suggest pitfalls in the regulatory policy represented by low probability of detection, arrest and punishment. Moreover, redistributive policies in buffer zones of protected areas are needed into perpetuity to benefit locals. Also, conservation organizations’ support for building public and political salience is imperative. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-10 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9896-4 Authors Yogesh Dongol, Department of Earth and Environment, Florida International University, ECS 347, Miami, FL 33199, USA Joel T. Heinen, Department of Earth and Environment, Florida International University, ECS 347, Miami, FL 33199, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Based on SPOT-VGT images and meteorological data, this paper applied an integrated method to investigate the vegetation dynamic and its response to climate factors during 1998–2008 in Northeast China Transect, one of 15 ecological transects listed in the International Geosphere–Biosphere Programme. The main findings are as follows: (1) The NDVI time series presented nonlinear patterns that vary with timescales. The series fluctuated greatly at the smallest timescale (20 days), showing no salient trend, whereas a trend manifested itself more and more with the increase of time scale and finally stabilized at the 320-day scale. Little difference was found between vegetation types about the NDVI periodicity, as they occurred on either a 280-day or a 290-day cycle. (2) NDVI exhibited a significant correlation with temperature, precipitation, and sunshine hours. Overall, the correlation between NDVI and temperature was the highest, followed by precipitation, sunshine hours, and relative humidity. For different vegetation types, the correlations between NDVI and climate variables diversified, increasing from desert steppe to typical steppe, meadow steppe, and forest. (3) The periodicity of temperature and precipitation occurred in either a 280-day or 290-day cycle, which was approximately coincident with that of NDVI. This further supported the significant relationship between NDVI and these two climate factors. (4) At all the time scales under examination, NDVI and temperature and precipitation are significantly, positively correlated, especially at the 160-day scale, which can be regarded as the most suitable time scale for investigating the responses of vegetation dynamics to climate factors at most stations. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9885-7 Authors Qin Nie, The Research Center for East-West Cooperation in China, The Key Lab of GIScience of the Education Ministry PRC, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062 China Jianhua Xu, The Research Center for East-West Cooperation in China, The Key Lab of GIScience of the Education Ministry PRC, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062 China Minhe Ji, The Research Center for East-West Cooperation in China, The Key Lab of GIScience of the Education Ministry PRC, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062 China Lei Cao, The Research Center for East-West Cooperation in China, The Key Lab of GIScience of the Education Ministry PRC, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062 China Yang Yang, The Research Center for East-West Cooperation in China, The Key Lab of GIScience of the Education Ministry PRC, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062 China Yulian Hong, The Research Center for East-West Cooperation in China, The Key Lab of GIScience of the Education Ministry PRC, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062 China Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    The sustainability of future bioenergy production rests on more than continual improvements in its environmental, economic, and social impacts. The emergence of new biomass feedstocks, an expanding array of conversion pathways, and expected increases in overall bioenergy production are connecting diverse technical, social, and policy communities. These stakeholder groups have different—and potentially conflicting—values and cultures, and therefore different goals and decision making processes. Our aim is to discuss the implications of this diversity for bioenergy researchers. The paper begins with a discussion of bioenergy stakeholder groups and their varied interests, and illustrates how this diversity complicates efforts to define and promote “sustainable” bioenergy production. We then discuss what this diversity means for research practice. Researchers, we note, should be aware of stakeholder values, information needs, and the factors affecting stakeholder decision making if the knowledge they generate is to reach its widest potential use. We point out how stakeholder participation in research can increase the relevance of its products, and argue that stakeholder values should inform research questions and the choice of analytical assumptions. Finally, we make the case that additional natural science and technical research alone will not advance sustainable bioenergy production, and that important research gaps relate to understanding stakeholder decision making and the need, from a broader social science perspective, to develop processes to identify and accommodate different value systems. While sustainability requires more than improved scientific and technical understanding, the need to understand stakeholder values and manage diversity presents important research opportunities. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-15 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9884-8 Authors Timothy Lawrence Johnson, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, 90328, Durham, NC 27708, USA Jeffrey M. Bielicki, Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA Rebecca S. Dodder, Office of Research and Development, 109 TW Alexander Drive, MD E305-02, Research Triangle Park, Durham, NC 27711, USA Michael R. Hilliard, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA P. Ozge Kaplan, Office of Research and Development, 109 TW Alexander Drive, MD E305-02, Research Triangle Park, Durham, NC 27711, USA C. Andrew Miller, Office of Research and Development, 109 TW Alexander Drive, MD E305-02, Research Triangle Park, Durham, NC 27711, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    This study describes the results of a survey of 432 homeowners in Ohio, USA concerning their perceptions and practices regarding management of residential landscapes. The results reveal that outdoor residential environments are extremely important to homeowners, who tend to view their yards as serving multiple functions: a place to observe nature and to socialize as well as a place of beauty and recreation. Use of a lawn care company to apply chemicals is reported by 22 % of respondents, while 40 % either apply chemicals themselves or have someone other than a lawn care company do it. Logistic regressions reveal that factors influencing a homeowner’s decision to employ a lawn care company or to apply chemicals themselves include: household income (+), perceived impacts on the environment (−), whether the next door neighbor does it (+), and type of residential environment (rural −, suburban and urban +). A theme that emerges throughout the study is the perceived importance of the role of the lawn in residents’ sense of social status or acceptance in the neighborhood. This perception can be viewed as a positive in ensuring that residential environments are well maintained, but also as a negative resulting in environmental degradation or presenting a barrier to creativity in the development of alternative residential environments. Specific policy implications of these findings are that efforts aimed at educating homeowners about the environmental impacts of their lawn care choices are likely to have more success if they are directed at neighborhood groups rather than individuals, show that alternatives are easy to adopt, affordable, and can produce the characteristics of lawns that homeowners seek. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-15 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9874-x Authors Thomas W. Blaine, Urban Landscape Ecology Program, The Ohio State University, Wooster, OH 44691, USA Susan Clayton, Department of Psychology, The College of Wooster, Wooster, OH 44691, USA Paul Robbins, Department of Geography and Regional Development, University of Arizona, Harvill Building #437A, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA Parwinder S. Grewal, Urban Landscape Ecology Program, The Ohio State University, Wooster, OH 44691, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Assessing the passage of aquatic organisms through culvert road crossings has become increasingly common in efforts to restore stream habitat. Several federal and state agencies and local stakeholders have adopted assessment approaches based on literature-derived criteria for culvert impassability. However, criteria differ and are typically specific to larger-bodied fishes. In an analysis to prioritize culverts for remediation to benefit imperiled, small-bodied fishes in the Upper Coosa River system in the southeastern United States, we assessed the sensitivity of prioritization to the use of differing but plausible criteria for culvert impassability. Using measurements at 256 road crossings, we assessed culvert impassability using four alternative criteria sets represented in Bayesian belief networks. Two criteria sets scored culverts as either passable or impassable based on alternative thresholds of culvert characteristics (outlet elevation, baseflow water velocity). Two additional criteria sets incorporated uncertainty concerning ability of small-bodied fishes to pass through culverts and estimated a probability of culvert impassability. To prioritize culverts for remediation, we combined estimated culvert impassability with culvert position in the stream network relative to other barriers to compute prospective gain in connected stream habitat for the target fish species. Although four culverts ranked highly for remediation regardless of which criteria were used to assess impassability, other culverts differed widely in priority depending on criteria. Our results emphasize the value of explicitly incorporating uncertainty into criteria underlying remediation decisions. Comparing outcomes among alternative, plausible criteria may also help to identify research most needed to narrow management uncertainty. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-16 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9886-6 Authors Gregory B. Anderson, Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA Mary C. Freeman, United States Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA Byron J. Freeman, Odum School of Ecology and Georgia Museum of Natural History, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA Carrie A. Straight, Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA Megan M. Hagler, Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA James T. Peterson, United States Geological Survey, Georgia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    The extensive reclamation of marshland into cropland has tremendously impacted the ecological environment of the Sanjiang Plain in northeast China. To understand the impacts of marshland reclamation and restoration on soil properties, we investigated the labile organic carbon fractions and the soil enzyme activities in an undisturbed marshland, a cultivated marshland and three marshlands that had been restored for 3, 6 and 12 years. Soil samples collected from the different management systems at a depth of 0–20 cm in July 2009 were analyzed for soil organic carbon (SOC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and easily degradable organic carbon. In addition, the activities of the invertase, β-glucosidase, urease and acid phosphatase were determined. These enzymes are involved in C, N and P cycling, respectively. Long-term cultivation resulted in decreased SOC, DOC, MBC, microbial quotient and C (invertase, β-glucosidase) and N-transforming (urease) enzyme activities compared with undisturbed marshland. After marshland restoration, the MBC and DOC concentrations and the soil invertase, β-glucosidase and urease activities increased. Soil DOC and MBC concentrations are probably the main factors responsible for the different invertase, β-glucosidase and urease activities. In addition, marshland restoration caused a significant increase in the microbial quotient, which reflects enhanced efficiency of organic substrate use by microbial biomass. Our observations demonstrated that soil quality recovered following marshland restoration. DOC, MBC and invertase, β-glucosidase and urease activities were sensitive for discriminating soil ecosystems under the different types of land use. Thus, these parameters should be considered to be indicators for detecting changes in soil quality and environmental impacts in marshlands. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-9 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9890-x Authors Yanyu Song, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agoecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 3195 Weishan Road, Changchun, 130012 China Changchun Song, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agoecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 3195 Weishan Road, Changchun, 130012 China Guisheng Yang, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agoecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 3195 Weishan Road, Changchun, 130012 China Yuqing Miao, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agoecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 3195 Weishan Road, Changchun, 130012 China Jiaoyue Wang, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agoecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 3195 Weishan Road, Changchun, 130012 China Yuedong Guo, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agoecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 3195 Weishan Road, Changchun, 130012 China Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Environment functions in various aspects including soil and water conservation, biodiversity and habitats, and landscape aesthetics. Comprehensive assessment of environmental condition is thus a great challenge. The issues include how to assess individual environmental components such as landscape aesthetics and integrate them into an indicator that can comprehensively quantify environmental condition. In this study, a geographic information systems based spatial multi-criteria decision analysis was used to integrate environmental variables and create the indicator. This approach was applied to Fort Riley Military installation in which land condition and its dynamics due to military training activities were assessed. The indicator was derived by integrating soil erosion, water quality, landscape fragmentation, landscape aesthetics, and noise based on the weights from the experts by assessing and ranking the environmental variables in terms of their importance. The results showed that landscape level indicator well quantified the overall environmental condition and its dynamics, while the indicator at level of patch that is defined as a homogeneous area that is different from its surroundings detailed the spatiotemporal variability of environmental condition. The environmental condition was mostly determined by soil erosion, then landscape fragmentation, water quality, landscape aesthetics, and noise. Overall, environmental condition at both landscape and patch levels greatly varied depending on the degree of ground and canopy disturbance and their spatial patterns due to military training activities and being related to slope. It was also determined the environment itself could be recovered quickly once military training was halt or reduced. Thus, this study provided an effective tool for the army land managers to monitor environmental dynamics and plan military training activities. Its limitation lies at that the obtained values of the indicator vary and are subjective to the experts’ knowledge and experience. Thus, further advancing this approach is needed by developing a scientific method to derive the weights of environmental variables. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9873-y Authors Steve Singer, Department of Geography and Environmental Resources, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Faner Hall 4520, 1000 Faner Drive, Carbondale, IL 62901, USA Guangxing Wang, Department of Geography and Environmental Resources, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Faner Hall 4520, 1000 Faner Drive, Carbondale, IL 62901, USA Heidi Howard, ERDC-CERL, Champaign, IL, USA Alan Anderson, ERDC-CERL, Champaign, IL, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    River managers are tasked with meeting both ecological and human needs. In the Puget Sound lowland, riparian management often includes placing or allowing the presence of large wood to stabilize riverbanks and enhance salmon habitat. Although this practice benefits humans by protecting infrastructure and natural resources, it is unclear how such practices interact with an additional human interest, recreation. Furthermore, we were unable to find studies that describe how an agency can go about researching the interaction between recreation and large wood management practices. This study tested methods for describing and estimating the number of river floaters, where they float in relationship to river projects, the risks they take while floating, and their perceptions of large wood in the river. Selecting a high-use suburban river in Washington State, we used riverside observations, interviews, and an infrared counter to gather data in the summer of 2010. Statistical analyses provided general characteristics of users, trends in engaging in risky behaviors, and estimates of use for the entire season and on the busiest day. Data mapping with GIS presented the density of use along the river and frequency of use of specific float routes. Finally, qualitative analysis of interviews clarified floaters’ perspectives of large wood. To address the multiple mandates of river managers, it is important to understand recreation users, the factors that could be putting them at risk, and how the actual users perceive large wood in the river. This study demonstrates methods for scientifically gathering such information and applying it when making riparian management decisions. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9876-8 Authors Kelly Biedenweg, 10319 SW 116th Street, Vashon, WA 98070, USA Kate Akyuz, King County, Rivers and Floodplain Management, Seattle, WA, USA Rebecca Skeele, Seattle, WA, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Structurally complex forests provide more diverse conditions in comparison to homogenous forests because of greater variety of microhabitats and trees. This study assesses the association of bird species richness, abundance, and distributional pattern with habitat complexity (HC) in Kheyrud Forest in the north of Iran. Birds were surveyed during spring 2009 by 100 point counts. In each point count six habitat features related to the index of HC were computed and scored from 0 to 3. Then the scores were summed and divided into two groups of low and high complexity, HC ≤ 6 and HC 〉 6, respectively. To compare bird richness and abundance in different HCs, a two sample t -test was used. Presence and absence of bird species at each plot as a dependent variable were compared with the vegetation characteristics as an independent variable by means of the Canonical Correspondence Analysis. The results revealed bird species richness and abundance were significantly higher in more complex habitats. Bird species can be divided into two groups, the first group including species which associated with late successional stages and the second group, species belonging to early successional stages. Numbers of birds belonging to the first group declined in less complex forests, whereas the numbers of birds belonging to the second group increased. At the stand scale, our results reveal that bird abundance and richness are strongly associated with the complexity of vegetation structure in the study area. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-8 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9877-7 Authors Maryam Ghadiri Khanaposhtani, Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Daneshkadeh Street, PO Box 41111, Karaj, Iran Mohammad Kaboli, Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Daneshkadeh Street, PO Box 41111, Karaj, Iran Mahmoud Karami, Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Daneshkadeh Street, PO Box 41111, Karaj, Iran Vahid Etemad, Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Daneshkadeh Street, PO Box 41111, Karaj, Iran Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    The literature on fisheries co-management is almost silent on the issue of the movement of fisherfolk within fisheries, although such movement must have implications for the effectiveness of co-management. The introduction of co-management often involves the formation of new structures that should enable the participation of key stakeholder groups in decision-making and management, but such participation is challenging for migrating fishers. The article reports on a study on Lake Victoria, East Africa, which investigated the extent of movement around the lake and the implications of movement for how fishers participate and are represented in co-management, and the implications of the extent and nature of movement for co-management structures and processes. The analysis draws on the concept of space from the literature on participation in development and on a framework of representation in fisheries co-management in addressing these questions. The created space is on an ‘invited’ rather than open basis, reflecting the top-down nature of implementation and the desire to secure participation of different occupational groups, as well as women in a male-dominated sector. The more powerful boat owners dominate positions of power within the co-management system, particularly as the levels of co-management, from sub-district to national, are traversed. The limited power and resources of boat crew are exacerbated by the degree and nature of movement around the lake, making effective participation in co-management decision-making a challenge. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9881-y Authors Fiona Nunan, International Development Department, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT UK Joseph Luomba, Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute, Mwanza, United Republic of Tanzania Caroline Lwenya, Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, Kisumu, Kenya Ernest Yongo, Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, Kisumu, Kenya Konstantine Odongkara, National Fisheries Resources Research Institute, Jinja, Uganda Baker Ntambi, National Fisheries Resources Research Institute, Jinja, Uganda Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Participatory processes for obtaining residents’ input about community impacts of proposed environmental management actions have long raised concerns about who participates in public involvement efforts and whose interests they represent. This study explored methods of broad-based involvement and the role of deliberation in social impact assessment. Interactive community forums were conducted in 27 communities to solicit public input on proposed alternatives for recovering wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest US. Individuals identified by fellow residents as most active and involved in community affairs (“AE residents”) were invited to participate in deliberations about likely social impacts of proposed engineering and ecological actions such as dam removal. Judgments of these AE participants about community impacts were compared with the judgments of residents motivated to attend a forum out of personal interest, who were designated as self-selected (“SS”) participants. While the magnitude of impacts rated by SS participants across all communities differed significantly from AE participants’ ratings, in-depth analysis of results from two community case studies found that both AE and SS participants identified a large and diverse set of unique impacts, as well as many of the same kinds of impacts. Thus, inclusion of both kinds of residents resulted in a greater range of impacts for consideration in the environmental impact study. The case study results also found that the extent to which similar kinds of impacts are specified by AE and SS group members can differ by type of community. Study results caution against simplistic conclusions drawn from this approach to community-wide public participation. Nonetheless, the results affirm that deliberative methods for community-based impact assessment involving both AE and SS residents can provide a more complete picture of perceived impacts of proposed restoration activities. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9871-0 Authors Charles C. Harris, Department of Conservation Social Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844-1139 USA Erik A. Nielsen, School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA Dennis R. Becker, Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA Dale J. Blahna, Pacific Northwest Research Station, USDA Forest Service, Seattle, WA, USA William J. McLaughlin, College of Natural Resources, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    Odors emitted from US Midwest hog production facilities present farmers, residents, and state regulatory agencies with a set of complex challenges. To predict odor exposure from multiple swine production sources simultaneously, and to determine siting recommendations for proposed new or enlarged hog facilities, researchers at Iowa State University designed the community assessment model for odor dispersion (CAM). A three-county citizen survey conducted in Iowa examined the level of hypothetical social acceptance of the modeling process, and level of trust in CAM results. While 69 % of respondents approved of modeling as a way to determine the most socially appropriate location for production sites, only 35 % would trust the results if potential odor exposure from a new facility were proposed to be built near their home. We analyzed approval of the CAM model, and level of trust, across a number of demographic, attitudinal, and belief factors regarding environmental quality and the hog industry. Overall, trust in CAM was uneven and varied across respondents. Those residents who would not trust CAM tended to be more concerned with environmental quality and less inclined to believe that the hog industry is critically important economically. Those who would not trust CAM results also had significantly more direct experience with odors. Findings point to predominantly positive, yet equivocal acceptance of CAM results among the citizenry, which is not unexpected given conflict typical of siting decisions in industry and waste disposal arenas. Recommendations are offered regarding the interaction of trust, beliefs and attitudes and the utility of CAM. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9879-5 Authors John C. Tyndall, Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Iowa State University, 238 Science Hall II, Ames, IA 50010, USA Nancy Grudens-Schuck, Department of Agricultural Education and Studies, Iowa State University, 217D Curtiss Hall, Ames, IA 50010, USA Jay D. Harmon, Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Iowa State University, 200 Davidson Hall, Ames, IA 50010, USA Steve J. Hoff, Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Iowa State University, 200 Davidson Hall, Ames, IA 50010, USA Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    This study adopts and modifies the WWF Rapid assessment and prioritization of protected areas management methodology (RAPPAM) to evaluate the management effectiveness of five protected areas in Taiwan. The results indicate that, unlike the situation in most developing countries, the threats and pressures faced by protected areas in Taiwan come mainly from the outside–with pollution as the most common pressure and threat, and difficult for their management authorities to deal with effectively. The categories and extent of these pressures and threats are related to remoteness and geographic location of the protected areas. All five cases under study reveal a similar management approach, clear management goals, adequate basic infrastructure and clear management decision-making; on the down side, however, all of them suffer from the lack of an effective comprehensive management plan, inadequate or poor quality human resources and insufficient funding. The present study suggests that first priority should be given to strengthening management planning in order to improve management effectiveness of protected areas in Taiwan. The adjustment made to RAPPAM in this study was to amend and take the format of the management plan as the basis for evaluation material preparations and open the discussion to encourage stakeholders’ participation to open the dialogue among them. The results indicate that, although the system evaluation design still has some constraints, the quality of information collected is improved and can respond more directly to the specific demands of the respective areas. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9875-9 Authors Dau-Jye Lu, Department of Forestry & Resource Management, National Taiwan University, 1, Sec IV, Roosevelt Rd Taipei 106, Taipei, Taiwan Chien-Wen Kao, Department of Geography, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan Chih-Liang Chao, Department of Tourism, Providence University, 200 Chung-Chi Rd., Salu Dist., Taichung, 43301 Taiwan Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X

Description:    The scope of re-introduction as a measure for plant species protection is increasing, but as long as no standardized methods are available, species-specific assessments are necessary to determine whether seeds, adult plants or plant fragments should be used. The endangered German False Tamarisk ( Myricaria germanica ), which occurs on gravel bars along pre-alpine rivers, is difficult to grow from seeds. Thus, propagation of stem cuttings was investigated as an alternative method. Experiments were conducted in a greenhouse and a field site with three treatments: cutting length 5 or 10 cm, vertical burial 5 or 10 cm, and water level low or high. Plants grown in the greenhouse were transplanted to the River Isar to test establishment of rooted cuttings on gravel bars. The cuttings in the greenhouse showed high survival (34–96 %). Survival and biomass production were greatest for 10-cm cuttings buried at 10-cm depth, while only one of the 5-cm cuttings survived at this depth, and no significant effect of variation in water level was observed. None of the cuttings transplanted to field sites survived, most likely because of drought stress and competition. We conclude that for re-introduction of Myricaria germanica rooted cuttings can be easily produced in large quantities, while transplantation to near-natural environments has to be improved to reduce mortality. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-9 DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9880-z Authors Christiane Koch, Restoration Ecology, Center of Life and Food Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München, Emil-Ramann-Straße 6, 85350 Freising, Germany Johannes Kollmann, Restoration Ecology, Center of Life and Food Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München, Emil-Ramann-Straße 6, 85350 Freising, Germany Journal Environmental Management Online ISSN 1432-1009 Print ISSN 0364-152X