Return to Wildland Fire
Return to Northern Bobwhite site
Return to Working Lands for Wildlife site
Return to Working Lands for Wildlife site
Return to SE Firemap
Return to the Landscape Partnership Literature Gateway Website
RETURN TO LANDSCAPE PARTNERSHIP SITE
return to main site

Skip to content. | Skip to navigation

Sections

Personal tools

You are here: Home

Search results

RSS Subscribe to an always-updated RSS feed.

14 items matching your search terms.
Filter the results.
Item type
























New items since



Sort by relevance · date (newest first) · alphabetically
File Protected Areas: Goals, Limitations, and Design
by Jessica Rhodes — published Aug 12, 2015 — filed under: , ,
This reference focuses on the functions, design, and limitations of protected areas and the processes of conservation planning.
Located in Technical Resources / … / Marxan Training Resources / Marxan Training Suggested Readings
File Applying ecological criteria to marine reserve design: A case study from the California Channel Islands
by Jessica Rhodes — published Aug 12, 2015 — filed under: , , , ,
Reference which describes the steps involved in designing a network of marine reserves for conservation and fisheries management.
Located in Technical Resources / … / Marxan Training Resources / Marxan Training Suggested Readings
File Plan for the Population Restoration and Conservation of Imperiled Freshwater Mollusks of the Cumberland Region
by Jessica Rhodes — published Jun 22, 2015 — last modified Jun 02, 2025 01:11 PM — filed under: , , ,
The goal of this Plan is to provide a framework for the restoration of freshwater mollusk resources and their ecological functions to appropriate reaches of the Cumberlandian Region through the reintroduction, augmentation (R/A) and controlled propagation of priority mollusks. The Plan prioritizes propagation and R/A activities for Region mollusks and provides guidelines for resource managers and recovery partners. The Plan is not a legal document and is not intended to replace or supersede published recovery plans for listed mollusks.
Located in Reports & Documents
File Six Common Mistakes in Conservation Priority Setting
by Jessica Rhodes — published Jun 22, 2015 — filed under: , ,
A vast number of prioritization schemes have been developed to help conservation navigate tough decisions about the allocation of finite resources. However, the application of quantitative approaches to setting priorities in conservation frequently includes mistakes that can undermine their authors’ intention to be more rigorous and scientific in the way priorities are established and resources allocated. Drawing on well-established principles of decision science, we highlight 6 mistakes commonly associated with setting priorities for conservation: not acknowledging conservation plans are prioritizations; trying to solve an ill- defined problem; not prioritizing actions; arbitrariness; hidden value judgments; and not acknowledging risk of failure. We explain these mistakes and offer a path to help conservation planners avoid making the same mistakes in future prioritizations.
Located in Reports & Documents
File C header Toward rigorous use of expert knowledge in ecological research
by Jessica Rhodes — published Jun 22, 2015 — filed under: ,
Practicing ecologists who excel at their work (‘‘experts’’) hold a wealth of knowledge. This knowledge offers a wide range of opportunities for application in ecological research and natural resource decision-making. While experts are often consulted ad-hoc, their contributions are not widely acknowledged. These informal applications of expert knowledge lead to concerns about a lack of transparency and repeatability, causing distrust of this knowledge source in the scientific community. Here, we address these concerns with an exploration of the diversity of expert knowledge and of rigorous methods in its use. The effective use of expert knowledge hinges on an awareness of the spectrum of experts and their expertise, which varies by breadth of perspective and critical assessment. Also, experts express their knowledge in different forms depending on the degree of contextualization with other information. Careful matching of experts to application is therefore essential and has to go beyond a simple fitting of the expert to the knowledge domain. The standards for the collection and use of expert knowledge should be as rigorous as for empirical data. This involves knowing when it is appropriate to use expert knowledge and how to identify and select suitable experts. Further, it requires a careful plan for the collection, analysis and validation of the knowledge. The knowledge held by expert practitioners is too valuable to be ignored. But only when thorough methods are applied, can the application of expert knowledge be as valid as the use of empirical data. The responsibility for the effective and rigorous use of expert knowledge lies with the researchers.
Located in Reports & Documents
File ECMAScript program Three new darter species of the Etheostoma percnurum species complex (Percidae, subgenus Catonotus) from the Tennessee and Cumberland River Drainages
by Jessica Rhodes — published Jun 22, 2015 — filed under: , , ,
The federally endangered Duskytail Darter, Etheostoma percnurum Jenkins, is known from only six highly disjunct populations in the Tennessee and Cumberland river drainages of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Only four are extant. Variation in morphology including meristics, morphometrics, and pigmentation was examined among the four extant populations and limited specimens from the two extirpated populations (Abrams Creek and South Fork Holston River). Analyses of these data found each of the extant populations is morphologically diagnosable. The few specimens avail- able from Abrams Creek and South Fork Holston River prevented thorough assessment of variation, and these were grouped with their closest geographic counterparts, Citico Creek, and Little River, respectively. Three new morphologi- cally diagnosable species are described: E. sitikuense, the Citico Darter, from Citico Creek, Abrams Creek, and Tellico River (Tennessee River system); E. marmorpinnum, the Marbled Darter, from the Little River and South Fork Holston River (Tennessee River system); and E. lemniscatum, the Tuxedo Darter, from the Big South Fork (Cumberland River system). Each species warrants federal protection as an endangered species.
Located in Reports & Documents
File A Review of Climate-Change Adaptation Strategies for Wildlife Management and Biodiversity Conservation
by Matthew Cimitile — last modified Sep 14, 2012 08:21 AM — filed under: , , ,
We reviewed the literature and climate- change adaptation plans that have been developed in United States, Canada, England, Mexico, and South Africa and finding 16 general adaptation strategies that relate directly to the conservation of biological diversity. These strategies can be grouped into four broad categories: land and water protection and management; direct species management; monitoring and planning; and law and policy. Tools for implementing these strategies are similar or identical to those already in use by conservationists worldwide (land and water conservation, ecological restoration, agrienvironment schemes, species translocation, captive propagation, monitoring, natural resource planning, and legislation/regulation). Although the review indicates natural resource managers already have many tools that can be used to address climate-change effects, managers will likely need to apply these tools in novel and innovative ways to meet the unprecedented challenges posed by climate change.
Located in Resources / General Resources Holdings
File D source code Pragmatic population viability targets in a rapidly changing world
by Matthew Cimitile — published Sep 14, 2012 — filed under: , ,
To ensure both long-term persistence and evolutionary potential, the required number of individuals in a population often greatly exceeds the targets proposed by conservation management. We critically review minimum population size requirements for species based on empirical and theoretical estimates made over the past few decades. This literature collectively shows that thousands (not hundreds) of individuals are required for a population to have an acceptable probability of riding-out environmental fluctuation and catastrophic events, and ensuring the continuation of evolutionary processes. The evidence is clear, yet conservation policy does not appear to reflect these findings, with pragmatic concerns on feasibility over-riding biological risk assessment. As such, we argue that conservation biology faces a dilemma akin to those working on the physical basis of climate change, where scientific recommendations on carbon emission reductions are compromised by policy makers. There is no obvious resolution other than a more explicit acceptance of the trade-offs implied when population viability requirements are ignored. We rec- ommend that conservation planners include demographic and genetic thresholds in their assessments, and recognise implicit triage where these are not met.
Located in Resources / General Resources Holdings
File Stakeholder participation for environmental management: A literature review
by Matthew Cimitile — published Sep 14, 2012 — filed under: , ,
The complex and dynamic nature of environmental problems requires flexible and trans- parent decision-making that embraces a diversity of knowledges and values. For this rea- son, stakeholder participation in environmental decision-making has been increasingly sought and embedded into national and international policy. Although many benefits have been claimed for participation, disillusionment has grown amongst practitioners and stakeholders who have felt let down when these claims are not realised. This review first traces the development of participatory approaches in different disciplinary and geograph- ical contexts, and reviews typologies that can be used to categorise and select participatory methods. It then reviews evidence for normative and pragmatic benefits of participation, and evaluates limitations and drawbacks. Although few of the claims that are made have been tested, there is evidence that stakeholder participation can enhance the quality of environmental decisions by considering more comprehensive information inputs.
Located in Resources / General Resources Holdings
File Octet Stream Stream channel geomorphology influences mussel abundance in southern Appalachian streams, U.S.A.
by Matthew Cimitile — published Sep 14, 2012 — filed under: , , ,
We quantified freshwater mussel abundance and species richness and their physical habitat at 24 sites in eight streams in southern Appalachian catchments in 2000 and 2001. In addition, we modelled site-specific hydraulic parameters during summer baseflow and bankfull stages to estimate high- and low-discharge conditions, respectively. Mussel abundance was related to stream geomorphology, whereas richness was related to stream size. Baseflow habitat parameters explained only minor variation in abundance or richness, and both measures were highly correlated with mean current velocity or stream size. Bankfull shear stress composed a relatively low proportion of overall mussel habitat variability, but it accounted for significant variation in abundance and richness. Mussel abundance was highly variable at sites subject to low-shear stress during spates, whereas abundance always was low at sites subject to high-shear stress. These data suggest that habitat conditions during floods, rather than those at summer baseflow, limit the abundance of mussels in Appalachian streams. These data also suggest that mussel abundance and assemblage structure may be sensitive to any changes in channel geomorphology and hydraulic conditions that might result from land use in the catchment.
Located in Resources / General Resources Holdings