Ecological niche modeling of rabies in the changing Arctic of Alaska

Additional file 3. Location data of rabies cases used for model assessment. This file lists the location of rabies cases provided by the Alaska Section of Epidemiology in the Department of Health and Social Services of the State of Alaska

Telecoupling analysis of the Patagonian Shelf: a new approach to study global seabird-fisheries interactions to achieve sustainability

The Southwest Atlantic Ocean, particularly the extended Patagonian Shelf, constitutes a complex, globally-relevant ecosystem. It is a highly productive area, and it maintains a high diversity and abundance of seabird species. At the same time, the Patagonian Shelf experiences pressues, such as fisheries that have been identified as a main stressor for marine ecosystems worldwide, including being a principal cause of seabird population declines. Using the telecoupling framework - which incorporates natural and socioeconomic interactions over large distances - we present here a holistic look at the dynamics of threatened seabird- fisheries interactions for the Patagonian Shelf over space and time. Based on the best-available public data for seabird presence, we used machine learning and geographic information systems to model-predict the at-sea distribution of seabirds. Then, maps were overlaid with fisheries distributions to show spatial correlation and hotspots for co-occurrence between seabirds and fisheries. We found that even this remote corner of the Atlantic Ocean is globally connected to XXX nations and XXX other outside-stakeholders through fisheries. By identifying and characterizing the systems, flows, agents, causes and effects involved in this telecoupling process, we highlighted specific complexities, bottlenecks and sensitivities that must still be addressed to achieve both biodiversity conservation and management as well as fisheries sustainability not only in this study area, but worldwide.Fil: Raya Rey, Andrea Nélida. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur. Instituto de Ciencias Polares, Ambientales y Recursos Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Huettmann, Falk. University of Alaska; Estados Unido

Even at the uttermost ends of the Earth: how seabirds telecouple the Beagle Channel with regional and global processes that affect environmental conservation and socio-ecological sustainability

Human-wildlife dynamics exhibit novel characteristics in the Anthropocene, given the unprecedented degree of globalization that has increased the linkages between habitats and people across space and time. This is largely caused by transnational mobility and migration, international labor, resource markets, and trade. Understanding the relationship between humans and wildlife, and their associated telecoupling processes, helps to promote better management practices and governance for reconciling socioeconomic and conservation interests. Even remote places on the globe exhibit these features. For example, in southern Patagonia’s coastal and marine ecosystems, seabirds are not only very abundant and charismatic members of the wildlife community, nowadays, their colonies are a main tourism attraction of global significance, and in the past they were used for consumptive and scientific purposes that also linked the “uttermost ends of the Earth” with distant places. Thus, in this study, we review human-seabird interactions in the iconic Beagle Channel (BC) in the Argentine portion of the Tierra del Fuego Archipelago. We adapted and employed the coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) approach and telecoupling framework to integrate disparate social and biological information and obtain a more holistic understanding of current human-seabird dynamics and trends in the BC. Although our assessment includes the temporal scale of human-seabird relationships, we centered the CHANS and telecoupling analysis on the modern seabird-tourism interaction, focused on the channel’s Argentine sector, in which tourism is most intensively developed. Our synthesis of the BC’s telecoupled CHANS allowed us to recognize the strong historical local-to-global interactions between both human and natural subsystems and the sharp increase in distance telecoupling during the 20th century. Despite this globalizing trend in seabirds connecting the BC’s local ecosystems to distant places, ironically we found few linkages between Argentina and Chile, despite both countries sharing political sovereignty over this single biogeographical unit. Recognizing and studying the telecouplings identified in this study would help multilateral efforts to incorporate the spillover systems (especially with Chile) and sending systems (i.e., transnational tourists’ countries of origin) into extant regional policies (e.g., state protected areas) and global initiatives (e.g., the United Nations’ sustainable development goals). It would also enable more informed decisions regarding specific proposals based on market-based incentives (e.g., payment for ecosystem services), certification schemes (e.g., Distintivo Onashaga) and participatory approaches (e.g., comanagement of natural resources with local communities). Integrating these scales into the management of the BC would help ensure that humans continue to enjoy meaningful relationships with this unique and charismatic wildlife and at the same time reinforce responsible tourism as a local-global strategy for sustainable development and global conservation.Fil: Raya Rey, Andrea Nélida. Universidad Nacional de Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Instituto de Ciencias Polares, Ambiente y Recursos Naturales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Pizarro Pinochet, Jose Cristobal. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentina. Universidad de Concepción; ChileFil: Anderson, Christopher Brian. Universidad Nacional de Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Instituto de Ciencias Polares, Ambiente y Recursos Naturales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Huettmann, Falk. University Of Alaska; Estados Unido