The Biodiversity Forecasting Toolkit: Answering the ‘how much’, ‘what’, and ‘where’ of planning for biodiversity persistence

AbstractThis research reports on a new approach to conservation assessment that seeks to extend the target-based model traditionally underpinning systematic conservation planning. The Biodiversity Forecasting Tool (BFT) helps answer three important questions relating to regional biodiversity persistence: ‘how much’ biodiversity can persist for a given land-management scenario; ‘what’ habitats to focus conservation effort on; and ‘where’ in the landscape to undertake conservation action. The tool integrates fine-scaled variability in vegetation composition and structure with spatial context, which is critical for ensuring the viability of populations. Thus, a raster data framework is employed which deems each location or gridcell in a landscape as contributing to biodiversity benefits to various degrees. At its simplest, just two spatial inputs, vegetation community types and vegetation condition, are needed. Drawing on, as a case-study, a broad-scale biodiversity assessment for NSW, Australia, this paper reports on the successful application of the BFT tool for a variety of functions ranging from interactive scenario evaluation through to conservation benefits mapping

Racial Identity and the Development of Body Image Issues among African American Adolescent Girls

As readers, children with dyslexia are vulnerable to becoming academically, socially, and emotionally detached from education. Traditional educational practices tend to use quantitative measures to diagnose children to better serve their needs and researchers, who study students with special needs often focus on a deficit model that quantify just how far a child is from the norm. This practice, while full of good intentions, often creates emotional scars and feelings of inferiority in a child. This reductionist view of a disability is most likely different from the lived experience of the person with the disability. To get a complete picture, we must use qualitative methods to reveal children’s words, their interactions, and the entire context within which their disability is nested. In this study, I use qualitative methods to unpack the educational experiences of a group of students with dyslexia. Data were gathered from four sources: interviews with students and teachers, field notes, and journal entries. The words of the participants are presented to convey the emotional impact that a reading disability brings and to remind educators and researchers that quantitative methods do not always provide a complete picture of a child’s experience in school

Some studies of positional specificities of enzymic desaturation of long-chain fatty acids

Aerobic desaturation of long-chain fatty acids is virtually a universal process and it has been noted that under identical conditions the same organism or enzyme system will introduce the double bond into the same position in the fatty acid chain. The biosynthesis of long chain fatty acids is therefore a highly specific process. To date the specific factors which govern the position of the double bond in the fatty acid molecule have not been investigated. This thesis deals with work done to demonstrate the existence of aerobic desaturation in five systems typical of the whole spectrum of life viz. the yeast Torulopsis apicola the green alga Chlorella vulgaris, the embryo and endosperm of the castor plant Ricinis communis, a microsomal fraction of hen liver and a microsomal fraction from the mammary gland of a goat. [Continues.

Re-Establishment of the Giant Canada Goose in Iowa

Giant Canada geese (Branta canadensis maxima) were common nesters in Iowa before 1900 but were exterminated through overexploitation about that time. Recent efforts by the Iowa Conservation Commission to re-establish these birds have been successful. By providing protection and nesting areas this flock has been increased from a few pair in 1964 to 800-1,000 birds in 1970. The birds have adapted to the surrounding habitat and established a migration tradition. The goal is to increase the flock to 7,000 birds