The Potential of the Science-Religion Confluence for Affecting Policy and Administration

The author's understanding of the full scope of God's covenant after the Flood, together with the scientific insights of systems theory, guided him to implement a new approach in administering national restoration and protection policy. He is convinced that attempts by Congress to dismantle such legislation as the Endangered Species Act of 1973 are founded upon fear of the potential power of the conjunction of spiritual values with scientific insight

Amphibian Contributions to Ecosystem Services

Ecosystems provide essential services for human society, which include provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services. Amphibians provide provisioning services by serving as a food source for some human societies, especially in Southeast Asia. They also serve as models in medical research and provide potential for new pharmaceuticals such as analgesics and anti-viral drugs derived from skin secretions. Amphibians contribute to regulating services by reducing mosquito recruitment from ephemeral wetlands, potentially controlling other pest species, and indirectly through predation of insect pollinators. Often neglected, ecosystems also provide cultural services to human societies that increase the quality of human life through recreation, religion, spirituality, and aesthetics. As an abundant and diverse class of vertebrates, amphibians also play prominent roles in the culture of human societies through pathways such as mythology, literature, and art. Most research on the role of amphibians in ecosystems has been on their contribution to supporting services. This is also the area where amphibians are likely to have the largest contribution to ecosystem services. Supporting services have structural (e.g., habitat) and functional (e.g., ecosystem functions and processes) components. Amphibians can affect ecosystem structure through soil burrowing and aquatic bioturbation and ecosystem functions such as decomposition and nutrient cycling through waste excretion and indirectly through predatory changes in the food web. They also can control primary production in aquatic ecosystems through direct consumption and nutrient cycling. Unfortunately, amphibians are experiencing major declines and humans may be losing associated ecosystem services. It is important to understand how declines affect ecosystem services for human societies, but these declines can also serve as natural experiments to understand the role of amphibians in ecosystems

An Investigation of the performance of six small septic tanks

A report of an investigation conducted by the Engineering Experiment Station, University of Illinois, in cooperation with the Armco Steel Corporation.Bibliography: p. 74-75

Effects of Red-Backed Salamanders on Ecosystem Functions

Ecosystems provide a vast array of services for human societies, but understanding how various organisms contribute to the functions that maintain these services remains an important ecological challenge. Predators can affect ecosystem functions through a combination of top-down trophic cascades and bottom-up effects on nutrient dynamics. As the most abundant vertebrate predator in many eastern US forests, woodland salamanders (Plethodon spp.) likely affect ecosystems functions. We examined the effects of red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) on a variety of forest ecosystem functions using a combined approach of large-scale salamander removals (314-m2 plots) and small-scale enclosures (2 m2) where we explicitly manipulated salamander density (0, 0.5, 1, 2, 4 m−2). In these experiments, we measured the rates of litter and wood decomposition, potential nitrogen mineralization and nitrification rates, acorn germination, and foliar insect damage on red oak seedlings. Across both experimental venues, we found no significant effect of red-backed salamanders on any of the ecosystem functions. We also found no effect of salamanders on intraguild predator abundance (carabid beetles, centipedes, spiders). Our study adds to the already conflicting evidence on effects of red-backed salamander and other amphibians on terrestrial ecosystem functions. It appears likely that the impact of terrestrial amphibians on ecosystem functions is context dependent. Future research would benefit from explicitly examining terrestrial amphibian effects on ecosystem functions under a variety of environmental conditions and in different forest types

An Experimental Test of Buffer Utility as a Technique for Managing Pool-Breeding Amphibians

Vegetated buffers are used extensively to manage wetland-dependent wildlife. Despite widespread application, buffer utility has not been experimentally validated for most species. To address this gap, we conducted a six-year, landscape-scale experiment, testing how buffers of different widths affect the demographic structure of two amphibian species at 11 ephemeral pools in a working forest of the northeastern U.S. We randomly assigned each pool to one of three treatments (i.e., reference, 100m buffer, 30m buffer) and clearcut to create buffers. We captured all spotted salamanders and wood frogs breeding in each pool and examined the impacts of treatment and hydroperiod on breeding-population abundance, sex ratio, and recapture rate. The negative effects of clearcutting tended to increase as forest-buffer width decreased and be strongest for salamanders and when other stressors were present (e.g., at short-hydroperiod pools). Recapture rates were reduced in the 30m, but not 100m, treatment. Throughout the experiment for frogs, and during the first year post-cut for salamanders, the predicted mean proportion of recaptured adults in the 30m treatment was only 62% and 40%, respectively, of that in the reference treatment. Frog sex ratio and abundance did not differ across treatments, but salamander sex ratios were increasingly male-biased in both cut treatments. By the final year, there were on average, only about 40% and 65% as many females predicted in the 100m and 30m treatments, respectively, compared to the first year. Breeding salamanders at short-hydroperiod pools were about 10% as abundant in the 100m versus reference treatment. Our study demonstrates that buffers partially mitigate the impacts of habitat disturbance on wetland-dependent amphibians, but buffer width and hydroperiod critically mediate that process. We provide the first experimental evidence showing that 30-m-wide buffers may be insufficient for maintaining resilient breeding populations of pool-dependent amphibians, at least during the first six years post-disturbance

A High-Speed Fish Evisceration System (FES) for Bycatch and Underutilized Fish Stocks

Development of a high-speed and high-yield water-powered fish evisceration system (FES) to efficiently preprocess small fish and bycatch for producing minced fish meat is described. The concept of the system is propelling fish in a stream of water through an arrangement of cutting blades and brushes. Eviscerated fish are separated from the viscera and water stream in a dual screen rotary sieve. The FES processed head off fish, weighing 170–500 g, at the rate of 300 fish/min when used with an automatic heading machine. Yields of mince produced from walleye pollock, Theragra chalcogramma; and Pacific whiting, Merluccius productus; processed by the FES ranged between 43% and 58%. The maximum yield of minced muscle from fish weighing over 250 g was 52%, and the yield of 250 g was 58%. Test results indicated that surimi made from minced meat recovered from fish processed with the FES was comparable in quality to commercial grade surimi from conventional systems. Redesigned for commercial operation in the Faeroe Islands (Denmark), the system effectively processed North Atlantic blue whiting, Micromesistius poutassou, with an average weight of 110 g at a constant rate of 500–600 fish/min, producing deboned mince feeding a surimi processing line at a rate of 2.0 t/h. Yields of mince ranged from 55% to 63% from round fish. Surimi made from the blue whiting mince meat produced by the FES was comparable to surimi commercially produced from blue whiting by Norway and France and sold into European markets

Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center: Quarterly Report, October 18, 2009 to January 17, 2010

Development of a P.O.I. and a Blended Learning Ecology for use in Combat Lifesaver Skills Training for the Army

Development of a P.O.I. and a Blended Learning Ecology for use in Combat Lifesaver Skills Training for the Army

The primary purpose of the project, as originally conceived, was to design and implement a series of applied research studies to validate the effectiveness of a blended learning ecology in the teaching of life saving medical skills to US Army combat military personnel. The project has undergone several changes to include changing the focus to the development of a Program of Instruction (POI) for Combat Lifesaver Skills (CLS). The new scope of work which has been followed for the past year includes the completion of the POI as well as the integration of the Personal Response System (PRS) into the visual presentations used for teaching the CLS course, a process which mandated a complete structural revision of the existing visual presentations. Additionally, the project is seeing the final stages of the creation of two eModules to supplement existing learning materials and the newly created POI

Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center: Quarterly Report, January 18, 2010 to April 17, 2011

Development of a P.O.I. and a Blended Learning Ecology for use in Combat Lifesaver Skills Training for the Army