Estimating offsets for avian displacement effects of anthropogenic impacts

Biodiversity offsetting, or compensatory mitigation, is increasingly being used in temperate grassland ecosystems to compensate for unavoidable environmental damage from anthropogenic developments such as transportation infrastructure, urbanization, and energy development. Pursuit of energy independence in the United States will expand domestic energy production. Concurrent with this increased growth is increased disruption to wildlife habitats, including avian displacement from suitable breeding habitat. Recent studies at energy-extraction and energy-generation facilities have provided evidence for behavioral avoidance and thus reduced use of habitat by breeding waterfowl and grassland birds in the vicinity of energy infrastructure. To quantify and compensate for this loss in value of avian breeding habitat, it is necessary to determine a biologically based currency so that the sufficiency of offsets in terms of biological equivalent value can be obtained. We describe a method for quantifying the amount of habitat needed to provide equivalent biological value for avifauna displaced by energy and transportation infrastructure, based on the ability to define five metrics: impact distance, impact area, pre-impact density, percent displacement, and offset density. We calculate percent displacement values for breeding waterfowl and grassland birds and demonstrate the applicability of our avian-impact offset method using examples for wind and oil infrastructure. We also apply our method to an example in which the biological value of the offset habitat is similar to the impacted habitat, based on similarity in habitat type (e.g., native prairie), geographical location, land use, and landscape composition, as well as to an example in which the biological value of the offset habitat is dissimilar to the impacted habitat. We provide a worksheet that informs potential users how to apply our method to their specific developments and a framework for developing decision-support tools aimed at achieving landscape-level conservation goals

Extreme offspring ornamentation in American coots is favored by selection within families, not benefits to conspecific brood parasites

Offspring ornamentation typically occurs in taxa with parental care, suggesting that selection arising from social interactions between parents and offspring may underlie signal evolution. American coot babies are among the most ornamented offspring found in nature, sporting vividly orange-red natal plumage, a bright red beak, and other red parts around the face and pate. Previous plumage manipulation experiments showed that ornamented plumage is favored by strong parental choice for chicks with more extreme ornamentation but left unresolved the question as to why parents show the preference. Here we explore natural patterns of variation in coot chick plumage color, both within and between families, to understand the context of parental preference and to determine whose fitness interests are served by the ornamentation. Conspecific brood parasitism is common in coots and brood parasitic chicks could manipulate hosts by tapping into parental choice for ornamented chicks. However, counter to expectation, parasitic chicks were duller (less red) than nonparasitic chicks. This pattern is explained by color variation within families: Chick coloration increases with position in the egg-laying order, but parasitic eggs are usually the first eggs a female lays. Maternal effects influence chick coloration, but coot females do not use this mechanism to benefit the chicks they lay as parasites. However, within families, chick coloration predicts whether chicks become “favorites” when parents begin control over food distribution, implicating a role for the chick ornamentation in the parental life-history strategy, perhaps as a reliable signal of a chick’s size or age. (Includes Supporting information.

Extreme offspring ornamentation in American coots is favored by selection within families, not benefits to conspecific brood parasites

Offspring ornamentation typically occurs in taxa with parental care, suggesting that selection arising from social interactions between parents and offspring may underlie signal evolution. American coot babies are among the most ornamented offspring found in nature, sporting vividly orange-red natal plumage, a bright red beak, and other red parts around the face and pate. Previous plumage manipulation experiments showed that ornamented plumage is favored by strong parental choice for chicks with more extreme ornamentation but left unresolved the question as to why parents show the preference. Here we explore natural patterns of variation in coot chick plumage color, both within and between families, to understand the context of parental preference and to determine whose fitness interests are served by the ornamentation. Conspecific brood parasitism is common in coots and brood parasitic chicks could manipulate hosts by tapping into parental choice for ornamented chicks. However, counter to expectation, parasitic chicks were duller (less red) than nonparasitic chicks. This pattern is explained by color variation within families: Chick coloration increases with position in the egg-laying order, but parasitic eggs are usually the first eggs a female lays. Maternal effects influence chick coloration, but coot females do not use this mechanism to benefit the chicks they lay as parasites. However, within families, chick coloration predicts whether chicks become “favorites” when parents begin control over food distribution, implicating a role for the chick ornamentation in the parental life-history strategy, perhaps as a reliable signal of a chick’s size or age. (Includes Supporting information.

Changing business perceptions regarding biodiversity: from impact mitigation towards new strategies and practices

Business activities play a major role in biodiversity loss and, as a result, firms are under increasing pressures from stakeholders to reduce their negative impacts on living systems. In response, business attitudes, behaviors and strategies regarding biodiversity are progressively changing, suggesting that interactions between business and biodiversity could go beyond the search of a compromise between development and conservation. This paper proposes an analysis of business perceptions regarding biodiversity. In its first part, we discuss how biodiversity is usually perceived as an external environmental constraint on business activities, and how economic tools may be used for arbitrages in that context. Building upon our work on the Business and Biodiversity Interdependence Indicator (BBII), we then discuss how assessing a firm's interdependences with biodiversity may bring about new business strategies and practices. We propose a typology of firm behavior regarding biodiversity and ecosystem services (BES), discuss business opportunities and property rights issues pertaining to markets for ecosystem services and propose preliminary conceptual foundations of new business standards needed to reverse current biodiversity trends.biodiversity; business; strategy; payments for ecosystem services; impact mitigation; standards.

Anthropogenic Habitats Facilitate Dispersal of an Early Successional Obligate: Implications for Restoration of an Endangered Ecosystem

Landscape modification and habitat fragmentation disrupt the connectivity of natural landscapes, with major consequences for biodiversity. Species that require patchily distributed habitats, such as those that specialize on early successional ecosystems, must disperse through a landscape matrix with unsuitable habitat types. We evaluated landscape effects on dispersal of an early successional obligate, the New England cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis). Using a landscape genetics approach, we identified barriers and facilitators of gene flow and connectivity corridors for a population of cottontails in the northeastern United States. We modeled dispersal in relation to landscape structure and composition and tested hypotheses about the influence of habitat fragmentation on gene flow. Anthropogenic and natural shrubland habitats facilitated gene flow, while the remainder of the matrix, particularly development and forest, impeded gene flow. The relative influence of matrix habitats differed between study areas in relation to a fragmentation gradient. Barrier features had higher explanatory power in the more fragmented site, while facilitating features were important in the less fragmented site. Landscape models that included a simultaneous barrier and facilitating effect of roads had higher explanatory power than models that considered either effect separately, supporting the hypothesis that roads act as both barriers and facilitators at all spatial scales. The inclusion of LiDAR-identified shrubland habitat improved the fit of our facilitator models. Corridor analyses using circuit and least cost path approaches revealed the importance of anthropogenic, linear features for restoring connectivity between the study areas. In fragmented landscapes, human-modified habitats may enhance functional connectivity by providing suitable dispersal conduits for early successional specialists

Municipal wastewater treatment with pond technology : historical review and future outlook

Facing an unprecedented population growth, it is difficult to overstress the assets for wastewater treatment of waste stabilization ponds (WSPs), i.e. high removal efficiency, simplicity, and low cost, which have been recognized by numerous scientists and operators. However, stricter discharge standards, changes in wastewater compounds, high emissions of greenhouse gases, and elevated land prices have led to their replacements in many places. This review aims at delivering a comprehensive overview of the historical development and current state of WSPs, and providing further insights to deal with their limitations in the future. The 21st century is witnessing changes in the way of approaching conventional problems in pond technology, in which WSPs should no longer be considered as a low treatment technology. Advanced models and technologies have been integrated for better design, control, and management. The roles of algae, which have been crucial as solar-powered aeration, will continue being a key solution. Yet, the separation of suspended algae to avoid deterioration of the effluent remains a major challenge in WSPs while in the case of high algal rate pond, further research is needed to maximize algal growth yield, select proper strains, and optimize harvesting methods to put algal biomass production in practice. Significant gaps need to be filled in understanding mechanisms of greenhouse gas emission, climate change mitigation, pond ecosystem services, and the fate and toxicity of emerging contaminants. From these insights, adaptation strategies are developed to deal with new opportunities and future challenges