Conservation and Novel Futures: Managing Biodiversity in Multifunctional Landscapes in the Age of the Anthropocene

Species loss is estimated to be >1,000 times the background rate and increasing. In what has now been dubbed ‘the Anthropocene’, human actions are the major cause of biodiversity decline; while strong pressures such as climate change will likely transform landscapes that are highly valued socially, economically, and ecologically. New combinations of species, interactions, and functions (i.e. novel ecosystems) are already emerging. The discussion about how to deal with novelty has been contentious and debated on both scientific and philosophical grounds, with questions about whether deliberately managing novel ecosystems is an adaptive response to change, or whether it is simply giving up (and giving in) to failure. While humans have created the Anthropocene, they are also integral to solving its problems. This research focuses on governance, as a process for both deciding how to navigate environmental change and deploying the capacity to deal with it. Our current governance systems are not, however, fit for purpose. In a time of social and ecological transformation, anchoring conservation success to historical baselines, as is most often the case, is expensive, technically difficult, and contributes to conservation failure. This research identifies the most important factors for achieving conservation ‘success’ in transforming landscapes and tests practical ways in which governance can provide a space for positive intervention, particularly in multifunctional landscapes where the need to adapt is most urgent. Using an original conceptual framework for analysing capacity for conserving biodiversity, practical reforms are developed. These are then tested using innovative, collaborative scenario planning and citizens juries methodologies to determine not only how governance can positively influence biodiversity outcomes in the future, but also provide a means to explicitly deal with difficult questions about novel ecosystems and conservation in the Anthropocene

Genetic differentiation, reproductive mode, and gene flow in the brooding coral Pocillopora damicornis along the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

The widespread and morphologically variable coral Pocillopora damicornis has been reported to exhibit huge variation in Life-history traits (e.g. mode of reproduction, growth rate, longevity and dispersal) both locally and regionally throughout the Indo-Pacific Ocean. Dispersal may be achieved by the settlement of sexually or asexually generated brooded planula larvae, by broadcast spawning or more locally through asexual fragmentation of large colonies. In the present study, we conducted a hierarchical survey of allozyme variation within:hin and among reef-crest sites on 3 mid-shelf reefs separated by up to 1200 km on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia. Our objective was to use allozyme data (1) to quantify local and regional patterns of variation in P., damicornis (along the northeastern coast of Australia), (2) to determine the relative contribution of sexual versus asexual production of planulae in P., damicornis, and (3) to estimate levels of gene flow among adjacent sites (>5 km apart) and among reefs separated by 500 to 1200 km. High levels of genotypic diversity in our samples of P. damicornis imply that dispersive propagules in this species are produced sexually rather than asexually along the length of the GBR. Corals at all sites displayed: the same level of multi-locus genotypic diversity expected for randomly mating, sexually derived populations, and the majority of individual colonies possessed unique 7-locus genotypes. We also detected consistent deficits of heterozygotes within each collection (from 3 local sites on each of the 3 widely spaced reefs). This pattern is consistent with the predicted effects of sexual reproduction associated with some localised dispersal of gametes or larvae (although other explanations cannot be excluded). Furthermore, each reef was genetically subdivided, suggesting that larval recruitment was localised and that these populations are slightly inbred: hierarchical analysis of the standardised genetic variances (F-ST) (estimated as Weir & Cockerham's theta) revealed that, although there was only moderate variation among all 9 sites (F-ST = 0.055 +/- 0.029), more variation was found among sites within reefs (F-SL = 0.035 +/- 0.04 to 0.088 +/-: 0.033) than among distant reefs (F-LT = 0.008 +/- 0.014). This homogeneity of gene frequencies across widely separated reefs implies that reefs are connected by high:gh levels of gene flow (N(e)m approximate to 31) and that local populations of P. damicornis separated by >1000 km can interbreed sufficiently to maintain a consistent suite of life-history characters

Effects of deletion of the Streptococcus pneumoniae lipoprotein diacylglyceryl transferase gene lgt on ABC transporter function and on growth in vivo

Lipoproteins are an important class of surface associated proteins that have diverse roles and frequently are involved in the virulence of bacterial pathogens. As prolipoproteins are attached to the cell membrane by a single enzyme, prolipoprotein diacylglyceryl transferase (Lgt), deletion of the corresponding gene potentially allows the characterisation of the overall importance of lipoproteins for specific bacterial functions. We have used a Δlgt mutant strain of Streptococcus pneumoniae to investigate the effects of loss of lipoprotein attachment on cation acquisition, growth in media containing specific carbon sources, and virulence in different infection models. Immunoblots of triton X-114 extracts, flow cytometry and immuno-fluorescence microscopy confirmed the Δlgt mutant had markedly reduced lipoprotein expression on the cell surface. The Δlgt mutant had reduced growth in cation depleted medium, increased sensitivity to oxidative stress, reduced zinc uptake, and reduced intracellular levels of several cations. Doubling time of the Δlgt mutant was also increased slightly when grown in medium with glucose, raffinose and maltotriose as sole carbon sources. These multiple defects in cation and sugar ABC transporter function for the Δlgt mutant were associated with only slightly delayed growth in complete medium. However the Δlgt mutant had significantly reduced growth in blood or bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and a marked impairment in virulence in mouse models of nasopharyngeal colonisation, sepsis and pneumonia. These data suggest that for S. pneumoniae loss of surface localisation of lipoproteins has widespread effects on ABC transporter functions that collectively prevent the Δlgt mutant from establishing invasive infection

Defining and quantifying the resilience of responses to disturbance: a conceptual and modelling approach from soil science

There are several conceptual definitions of resilience pertaining to environmental systems and, even if resilience is clearly defined in a particular context, it is challenging to quantify. We identify four characteristics of the response of a system function to disturbance that relate to “resilience”: (1) degree of return of the function to a reference level; (2) time taken to reach a new quasi-stable state; (3) rate (i.e. gradient) at which the function reaches the new state; (4) cumulative magnitude of the function (i.e. area under the curve) before a new state is reached. We develop metrics to quantify these characteristics based on an analogy with a mechanical spring and damper system. Using the example of the response of a soil function (respiration) to disturbance, we demonstrate that these metrics effectively discriminate key features of the dynamic response. Although any one of these characteristics could define resilience, each may lead to different insights and conclusions. The salient properties of a resilient response must thus be identified for different contexts. Because the temporal resolution of data affects the accurate determination of these metrics, we recommend that at least twelve measurements are made over the temporal range for which the response is expected

The Pioneer Anomaly

Radio-metric Doppler tracking data received from the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft from heliocentric distances of 20-70 AU has consistently indicated the presence of a small, anomalous, blue-shifted frequency drift uniformly changing with a rate of ~6 x 10^{-9} Hz/s. Ultimately, the drift was interpreted as a constant sunward deceleration of each particular spacecraft at the level of a_P = (8.74 +/- 1.33) x 10^{-10} m/s^2. This apparent violation of the Newton's gravitational inverse-square law has become known as the Pioneer anomaly; the nature of this anomaly remains unexplained. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge of the physical properties of the anomaly and the conditions that led to its detection and characterization. We review various mechanisms proposed to explain the anomaly and discuss the current state of efforts to determine its nature. A comprehensive new investigation of the anomalous behavior of the two Pioneers has begun recently. The new efforts rely on the much-extended set of radio-metric Doppler data for both spacecraft in conjunction with the newly available complete record of their telemetry files and a large archive of original project documentation. As the new study is yet to report its findings, this review provides the necessary background for the new results to appear in the near future. In particular, we provide a significant amount of information on the design, operations and behavior of the two Pioneers during their entire missions, including descriptions of various data formats and techniques used for their navigation and radio-science data analysis. As most of this information was recovered relatively recently, it was not used in the previous studies of the Pioneer anomaly, but it is critical for the new investigation.Comment: 165 pages, 40 figures, 16 tables; accepted for publication in Living Reviews in Relativit

Evidence for functional state transitions in intensively-managed soil ecosystems

Soils are fundamental to terrestrial ecosystem functioning and food security, thus their resilience to disturbances is critical. Furthermore, they provide effective models of complex natural systems to explore resilience concepts over experimentally-tractable short timescales. We studied soils derived from experimental plots with different land-use histories of long-term grass, arable and fallow to determine whether regimes of extreme drying and re-wetting would tip the systems into alternative stable states, contingent on their historical management. Prior to disturbance, grass and arable soils produced similar respiration responses when processing an introduced complex carbon substrate. A distinct respiration response from fallow soil here indicated a different prior functional state. Initial dry:wet disturbances reduced the respiration in all soils, suggesting that the microbial community was perturbed such that its function was impaired. After 12 drying and rewetting cycles, despite the extreme disturbance regime, soil from the grass plots, and those that had recently been grass, adapted and returned to their prior functional state. Arable soils were less resilient and shifted towards a functional state more similar to that of the fallow soil. Hence repeated stresses can apparently induce persistent shifts in functional states in soils, which are influenced by management history

Binary and Millisecond Pulsars at the New Millennium

We review the properties and applications of binary and millisecond pulsars. Our knowledge of these exciting objects has greatly increased in recent years, mainly due to successful surveys which have brought the known pulsar population to over 1300. There are now 56 binary and millisecond pulsars in the Galactic disk and a further 47 in globular clusters. This review is concerned primarily with the results and spin-offs from these surveys which are of particular interest to the relativity community.Comment: 59 pages, 26 figures, 5 tables. Accepted for publication in Living Reviews in Relativity (http://www.livingreviews.org

Declining resilience of ecosystem functions under biodiversity loss

The composition of species communities is changing rapidly through drivers such as habitat loss and climate change, with potentially serious consequences for the resilience of ecosystem functions on which humans depend. To assess such changes in resilience, we analyse trends in the frequency of species in Great Britain that provide key ecosystem functions-specifically decomposition, carbon sequestration, pollination, pest control and cultural values. For 4,424 species over four decades, there have been significant net declines among animal species that provide pollination, pest control and cultural values. Groups providing decomposition and carbon sequestration remain relatively stable, as fewer species are in decline and these are offset by large numbers of new arrivals into Great Britain. While there is general concern about degradation of a wide range of ecosystem functions, our results suggest actions should focus on particular functions for which there is evidence of substantial erosion of their resilience

Binary and Millisecond Pulsars

We review the main properties, demographics and applications of binary and millisecond radio pulsars. Our knowledge of these exciting objects has greatly increased in recent years, mainly due to successful surveys which have brought the known pulsar population to over 1700. There are now 80 binary and millisecond pulsars associated with the disk of our Galaxy, and a further 103 pulsars in 24 of the Galactic globular clusters. Recent highlights have been the discovery of the first ever double pulsar system and a recent flurry of discoveries in globular clusters, in particular Terzan 5.Comment: 77 pages, 30 figures, available on-line at http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2005-