The Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health

The Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, established at the University of Utah in 1977, has developed innovative training programs in occupational and environmental health, and an administrative structure that may assist other universities as they develop multidisciplinary programs in the field of occupational health and safety.     

住院医师规范化培训中的问题及国际经验启示

目的 梳理我国住院医师规范化培训存在的问题,借鉴国际经验,提出相关政策建议。方法 对现阶段我国住院医师规范化培训存在问题和典型国家住院医师培训开展文献调研和专家咨询。结果 我国 住院医师规范化培训存在管理制度不完善,培训过程和内容不合理,考核制度不健全,动员机制不顺畅等问题。结论 根据 国际经验,提出厘清各部门分工,充分发挥行业组织的桥梁和纽带作用;加强顶层设计和政策配套,保障培训制度的落实;拓宽培养内容,加强学员考核,提高培养质量等政策建议。     

Statistical power of replicated helicopter surveys in southern African conservation areas

Understanding the ecology of large ungulates in southern Africa requires accurate and precise measures of population size. Recovery or exploitation of ungulates in reserves is currently instigated when population size changes exceed 15% per annum, but monitoring is usually undertaken with single counts from helicopters, for which precision and the power to detect change are untested. In essence, power being the strength of a monitoring result in showing change over time. Retrospective power analysis is a useful technique to investigate the variability of single‐count aerial surveys. Using replicated helicopter‐based counts of southern African ungulates and post hoc analysis, we investigated the power of currently used single‐count surveys across five common ungulate species and 11 wildlife reserves. We expected high variability in count data and set α = 0.1 and 0.2 (α being the type I error rate), and asked two questions: ‘How much does power vary in replicated aerial counts of southern African wildlife across reserves and species?’ and ‘Can current single‐count aerial surveys detect population changes in response to management actions or are the statistical errors intractable?’ Single counts were mostly unreliable; only one of 42 had sufficient power to detect meaningful changes in population size or their trends at α = 0.1, and only three had sufficient power at α = 0.2. Power varied widely according to species (e.g. warthog, median power at α = 0.1; 0.12–0.37: blue wildebeest, median power at α = 0.1; 0.23–0.74), and, within species, between replicates and reserves. Our retrospective calculations demonstrated insensitivity and ineffectiveness in most currently applied single counts from helicopters. Consequently, it is impossible to interpret the effects of ungulate conservation actions on many southern African reserves. Retrospective power analyses enables determination of which previous aerial surveys were useful for population assessment and adaptive management, and which should be discarded. We recommend that prospective power analyses are undertaken to determine future helicopter survey sample size and replication requirements, especially in small reserves.     

西南山地红外相机监测网络建设进展

中国西南山地是全球生物多样性热点区。西南山地红外相机监测网络是我国生物多样性监测的区域性红外相机网络之一。该网络由北京大学牵头, 始建于2002年, 合作单位包括科研院所、高校、保护组织、政府部门、保护地管理机构等。网络主要覆盖青藏高原东缘大横断山区域的秦岭、岷山、邛崃山、相岭、凉山、沙鲁里山、云岭7大山系。网络内目前共有41个监测样区, 包括自然保护区、社区保护地、林场等多种类型。网络内监测样区均采用标准的网格化布设规程, 采取统一数据结构与数据库结构、建立离散式数据库进行分散管理的总体架构, 所有监测样区的数据库保持一致的结构和统一的核心字段, 由每个监测样区建立并维护各自独立的数据库。截至2019年12月, 网络内布设有效调查/监测位点5,738个, 已处理数据中调查工作量(以有效相机日计)合计约120.74万天, 积累红外相机照片/视频(删除连续空拍后) 302.59万份, 另有111.16万份待处理。共记录到分属7目21科的63种野生哺乳动物与分属10目35科的182种野生鸟类物种, 其中国家一、二级重点保护野生动物分别有18与39种。西南山地网络今后的重点工作方向包括: (1)基于通用元数据结构建立统一的在线数据库平台; (2)加强网络内保护地数据管理与分析能力建设; (3)为区域内生物多样性保护与保护地管理提供持续支持; (4)针对野生动物种间关系、群落构建机制以及大型食肉动物的生态功能开展深入的动物生态学研究。     

The under-financing of protected areas in the Congo Basin: so many parks and so little willingness-to-pay

Protected areas in the Congo Basin cover approximately 6% of the landscape, and several international NGOs are proposing substantial additions to the present network of parks and reserves. Yet, chronic under-funding has long precluded effective management of most parks and reserves resulting in their progressive ecological impoverishment, and the loss of biodiversity. Furthermore, not only are the indebted nations of the Congo Basin not in a position to contribute significantly to cover the recurring costs of protected area management, the growing opportunity costs of setting aside protected areas is increasing the incentives to local communities and national governments to 'illegally' exploit economically valuable resources within parks and reserves. If the global value of the biodiversity contained within the Congo Basin is considered worth preserving then donors and international NGOs must work with national governments to reach consensus on an optimal protected area network that (a) contains a representative assemblage of forest species; (b) is composed of forest blocks that are sufficiently large, intact, and likely to persist; (c) contains zones of active speciation (e.g. ecotones), and (d) can expect to receive sufficient long-term financial support to ensure effective management. Given the 'need to eat today' reality of economies in the Congo Basin, the international community must decide to shoulder most of the costs of conservation of globally important biodiversity. If donors continue to under-finance protected areas rather than make the hard choices associated with prioritizing protected area spending then most if not all protected areas within the Congo Basin will continue to exhibit reductions in the biomass of individual species, and risk the extirpation or extinction of large, slow reproducing species, and rare endemics.     

African Wild Dog Dispersal and Implications for Management

Successful conservation of species that roam and disperse over large areas requires detailed understanding of their movement patterns and connectivity between subpopulations. But empirical information on movement, space use, and connectivity is lacking for many species, and data acquisition is often hindered when study animals cross international borders. The African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) exemplifies such species that require vast undisturbed areas to support viable, self-sustaining populations. To study wild dog dispersal and investigate potential barriers to movements and causes of mortality during dispersal, between 2016 and 2019 we followed the fate of 16 dispersing coalitions (i.e., same-sex group of ≥1 dispersing African wild dogs) in northern Botswana through global positioning system (GPS)-satellite telemetry. Dispersing wild dogs covered ≤54 km in 24 hours and traveled 150 km to Namibia and 360 km to Zimbabwe within 10 days. Wild dogs were little hindered in their movements by natural landscape features, whereas medium to densely human-populated landscapes represented obstacles to dispersal. Human-caused mortality was responsible for >90% of the recorded deaths. Our results suggest that a holistic approach to the management and conservation of highly mobile species is necessary to develop effective research and evidence-based conservation programs across transfrontier protected areas, including the need for coordinated research efforts through collaboration between national and international conservation authorities. © 2020 The Wildlife Society.     

Optimising the monitoring of tropical aquatic resources through the development of Indigenous scientific capability

Involving Indigenous community members to assist with the monitoring of harvested populations can greatly assist with the sustainable use of these resources. The benefits of training Indigenous community members in western scientific methods include: increased capability development, increased employment opportunities and more cost effective monitoring output than could be undertaken by government agencies. The aim of this project was to develop a training course to provide elementary scientific skills to Indigenous participants from communities throughout the Northern Territory of Australia. The short term goals of the training were: (1) to increase the capacity of Indigenous communities to conduct monitoring activities and collect biological and physical samples, (2) to increase the employment opportunities for Indigenous community members by providing them with additional skills and a recognised qualification and (3) To provide a cost effective way of conducting monitoring activities in remote areas by using local capability rather than incurring the expense of sending a research team to these locations. The longer term goal of the training is to facilitate the development of research partnerships between Indigenous community members and management agencies as a first step in the move to co-management of aquatic resources. The key components for successfully developing the course were; consistent engagement with Indigenous communities to build relationships and identify priorities for both the community and government agency, the course content involved participation from community members and government scientists, the training addressed the needs of students with English as a second language, the course content was heavily practical and pictorial, assessments were verbal and/or practical and students were housed in accommodation that allowed them to conduct the course to the best of their ability. The research that has been conducted by the participants, as well as three students gaining employment in government research agencies since the completion of the course, suggest that the training has been successful in achieving its short term goals. The research partnerships that have been developed between the government agency and Indigenous community members are still in their infancy, so the move to co-management between these groups is still several years away. However, this training has provided an initial step in this process by increasing the monitoring capability within a substantial number of coastal Indigenous communities that allows them to participate in research programs that underpin the management of their aquatic resources.     

Optimal surveillance strategy for invasive species management when surveys stop after detection

Invasive species are a cause for concern in natural and economic systems and require both monitoring and management. There is a trade‐off between the amount of resources spent on surveying for the species and conducting early management of occupied sites, and the resources that are ultimately spent in delayed management at sites where the species was present but undetected. Previous work addressed this optimal resource allocation problem assuming that surveys continue despite detection until the initially planned survey effort is consumed. However, a more realistic scenario is often that surveys stop after detection (i.e., follow a “removal” sampling design) and then management begins. Such an approach will indicate a different optimal survey design and can be expected to be more efficient. We analyze this case and compare the expected efficiency of invasive species management programs under both survey methods. We also evaluate the impact of mis‐specifying the type of sampling approach during the program design phase. We derive analytical expressions that optimize resource allocation between monitoring and management in surveillance programs when surveys stop after detection. We do this under a scenario of unconstrained resources and scenarios where survey budget is constrained. The efficiency of surveillance programs is greater if a “removal survey” design is used, with larger gains obtained when savings from early detection are high, occupancy is high, and survey costs are not much lower than early management costs at a site. Designing a surveillance program disregarding that surveys stop after detection can result in an efficiency loss. Our results help guide the design of future surveillance programs for invasive species. Addressing program design within a decision‐theoretic framework can lead to a better use of available resources. We show how species prevalence, its detectability, and the benefits derived from early detection can be considered.     

Spatially explicit decision support for selecting translocation areas for Mojave desert tortoises

Spatially explicit decision support systems are assuming an increasing role in natural resource and conservation management. In order for these systems to be successful, however, they must address real-world management problems with input from both the scientific and management communities. The National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, has expanded its training area, encroaching U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service critical habitat set aside for the Mojave desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii), a federally threatened species. Of all the mitigation measures proposed to offset expansion, the most challenging to implement was the selection of areas most feasible for tortoise translocation. We developed an objective, open, scientifically defensible spatially explicit decision support system to evaluate translocation potential within the Western Mojave Recovery Unit for tortoise populations under imminent threat from military expansion. Using up to a total of 10 biological, anthropogenic, and/or logistical criteria, seven alternative translocation scenarios were developed. The final translocation model was a consensus model between the seven scenarios. Within the final model, six potential translocation areas were identified.     

Management of insecticides for use in disease vector control: Lessons from six countries in Asia and the Middle East

Interventions to control the vectors of human diseases, notably malaria, leishmaniasis and dengue, have relied mainly on the action of chemical insecticides. However, concerns have been raised regarding the management of insecticides in vector-borne disease-endemic countries. Our study aimed to analyze how vector control insecticides are managed in selected countries to extract lessons learned.A qualitative analysis of the situation of vector control insecticides management was conducted in six countries. Multi-stakeholder meetings and key informer interviews were conducted on aspects covering the pesticide lifecycle. Findings were compared and synthesized to extract lessons learned. Centrally executed guidelines and standards on the management of insecticides offered direction and control in most malaria programs, but were largely lacking from decentralized dengue programs, where practices of procurement, application, safety, storage, and disposal were variable between districts. Decentralized programs were better at facilitating participation of stakeholders and local communities and securing financing from local budgets. However, little coordination existed between malaria, visceral leishmaniasis and dengue programs within countries. Entomological capacity was concentrated in malaria programs at central level, while dengue and visceral leishmaniasis programs were missing out on expertise. Monitoring systems for insecticide resistance in malaria vectors were rarely used for dengue or visceral leishmaniasis vectors. Strategies for insecticide resistance management, where present, did not extend across programs or sectors in most countries. Dengue programs in most countries continued to rely on space spraying which, considering the realities on the ground, call for revision of international guidelines.Vector control programs in the selected countries were confronted with critical shortcomings in the procurement, application, safety measures, storage, and disposal of vector control insecticides, with implications for the efficiency, effectiveness, and safety of vector control. Further international support is needed to assist countries in situation analysis, action planning and development of national guidelines on vector control insecticide management.     

Training strategies for laboratory animal veterinarians: challenges and opportunities

The field of laboratory animal medicine is experiencing a serious shortage of appropriately trained veterinarians for both clinically related and research-oriented positions within academia, industry, and government. Recent outreach efforts sponsored by professional organizations have stimulated increased interest in the field. It is an opportune time to critically review and evaluate postgraduate training opportunities in the United States and Canada, including formal training programs, informal training, publicly accessible training resources and educational opportunities, and newly emerging training resources such as Internet-based learning aids. Challenges related to each of these training opportunities exist and include increasing enrollment in formal programs, securing adequate funding support, ensuring appropriate content between formal programs that may have diverse objectives, and accommodating the training needs of veterinarians who enter the field by the experience route. Current training opportunities and resources that exist for veterinarians who enter and are established within the field of laboratory animal science are examined. Strategies for improving formal laboratory animal medicine training programs and for developing alternative programs more suited to practicing clinical veterinarians are discussed. In addition, the resources for high-quality continuing education of experienced laboratory animal veterinarians are reviewed.     

Synergies between site protection and agri‐environment schemes for the conservation of waders on lowland wet grasslands

Two conservation strategies have been put in place in Europe to address precipitous population declines of wading birds that breed on lowland wet grasslands. These are site protection and agri‐environment schemes (AESs) and the two are rarely compared, or their synergy assessed. Increasingly, efforts to recover populations of previously widespread species follow a landscape‐scale approach whereby habitat improvement takes place at key sites through partially overlapping protected area management and AESs. To investigate whether site protection and AESs improve the conservation status of breeding waders and how these interact, we partially repeated a 2002 survey of breeding waders on protected areas (nature reserves and Sites of Special Scientific Interest) and sites with wader‐specific AES options in England in 2009 and 2010. We then assessed the individual and combined effects of these delivery mechanisms on field occupancy, breeding density and population change of four species of declining wader (Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus, Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago, Eurasian Curlew Arquata numenius and Common Redshank Tringa totanus). Although results for Curlew differed from the other species, in general field occupancy was positively influenced by conservation delivery mechanisms, with the highest occupancy and breeding densities on land where site protection was combined with wader‐specific AES options. Field occupancy varied between different types of AES, with higher occupancy associated with higher‐level options in fields, particularly those on nature reserves. Outside nature reserves, the history of AES management did not influence wader populations, but within nature reserves and on fields that gained AES management between 2002 and 2009–2010, populations of Curlew and Snipe were more likely to have persisted and population change in Snipe and Lapwing was more positive. We conclude that the conservation of breeding waders will be most effective when site protection and AES management are combined on the same land. Using limited AES money to support management for breeding waders on, around and between the existing network of protected sites will protect remaining populations while presenting opportunities for population expansion in future.     

Best Practices for Core Facilities: Handling External Customers

This article addresses the growing interest among U.S. scientific organizations and federal funding agencies in strengthening research partnerships between American universities and the private sector. It outlines how core facilities at universities can contribute to this partnership by offering services and access to high-end instrumentation to both nonprofit organizations and commercial organizations. We describe institutional policies (best practices) and procedures (terms and conditions) that are essential for facilitating and enabling such partnerships. In addition, we provide an overview of the relevant federal regulations that apply to external use of academic core facilities and offer a set of guidelines for handling them. We conclude by encouraging directors and managers of core facilities to work with the relevant organizational offices to promote and nurture such partnerships. If handled appropriately, we believe such partnerships can be a win-win situation for both organizations that will support research and bolster the American economy.     

Managed livestock grazing for conservation outcomes in a Queensland fragmented landscape

Protecting native biodiversity is a difficult prospect in extremely modified landscapes, especially where high‐impact exotic species are widespread. Using new data and a review of the literature, this paper comments on the use of livestock grazing to manage the invasive and highly combustible pasture grass species, Buffel Grass (Cenchrus ciliaris) and thereby help conserve fire‐sensitive Brigalow (Acacia harpophylla) vegetation in reserves in Queensland, Australia. We cite evidence that shows that grazing is a potentially useful management tool in such cases and its use can be compatible with the protection of both fire‐sensitive vegetation and other native plant species within the understorey. However, there are limitations in implementing grazing within conservation reserves including the lack of a clear understanding of the influence of grazing on biodiversity and resource condition. Importantly, we highlight secondary invasion by the exotic grass Indian Couch (Bothriochloa pertusa) as a key emerging threat that may undermine the biodiversity benefits gained by grazing in reserves. Grazing can be a useful tool for conservation management in particular scenarios, but the associated risks demand accompanying monitoring and reporting of positive and negative impacts to ensure the fundamental aim of biodiversity protection is being achieved.     

A practical sampling design for acoustic surveys of bats

Acoustic surveys are widely used for describing bat occurrence and activity patterns and are increasingly important for addressing concerns for habitat management, wind energy, and disease on bat populations. Designing these surveys presents unique challenges, particularly when a probabilistic sample is required for drawing inference to unsampled areas. Sampling frame errors and other logistical constraints often require survey sites to be dropped from the sample and new sites added. Maintaining spatial balance and representativeness of the sample when these changes are made can be problematic. Spatially balanced sampling designs recently developed to support aquatic surveys along rivers provide solutions to a number of practical challenges faced by bat researchers and allow for sample site additions and deletions, support unequal-probability selection of sites, and provide an approximately unbiased local neighborhood-weighted variance estimator that is efficient for spatially structured populations such as is typical for bats. We implemented a spatially balanced design to survey canyon bat (Parastrellus hesperus) activity along a stream network. The spatially balanced design accommodated typical logistical challenges and yielded a 25% smaller estimated standard error for the mean activity level than the usual simple random sampling estimator. Spatially balanced designs have broad application to bat research and monitoring programs and will improve studies relying on model-based inference (e.g., occupancy models) by providing flexibility and protection against violations of the independence assumption, even if design-based estimators are not used. Our approach is scalable and can be used for pre- and post-construction surveys along wind turbine arrays and for regional monitoring programs. © 2011 The Wildlife Society.     

The necessity of strengthening the cooperation between tissue banks and organ transplant organizations at national, regional, and international levels

The donation of tissues and organs increases significantly when tissue banks and organ transplant organizations work together in the procurement of organs and tissues at donor sources (hospitals, coroners system, organ procurement agencies, and funeral homes, among others). To achieve this important goal, national competent health authorities should considered the establishment of a mechanism that promote the widest possible cooperation between tissue banks and organ transplant organizations with hospitals, research medical institutions, universities, and other medical institutions and facilities. One of the issues that can facilitate this cooperation is the establishment of a coding and traceability system that could identify all tissues and organs used in transplant activities carried out in any country. The promotion of national, regional, and international cooperation between tissue banks and organ transplant organizations would enable the sharing of relevant information that could be important for medical practice and scientific studies carried out by many countries, particularly for those countries with a weak health care system.     

The need for specialized training programs in palliative medicine

Canada faces a significant and growing burden of terminal illness. There are major unresolved economic, ethical and social issues related to care at the end of life. Despite the international reputation for Canadian efforts in palliative care, the medical profession in Canada has largely failed to recognize the importance of the field, as evidenced by the lack of commitment on the part of most medical faculties at Canadian universities to developing academic strength in palliative medicine, the lack of content in the undergraduate curriculum and of postgraduate programs in palliative medicine, and the lack of support for research into end-of-life care. The authors propose a conjoint initiative by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the College of Family Physicians of Canada to develop specialized training programs in palliative medicine as a critical step in addressing this crisis.     

Genome resource banking for wildlife research, management, and conservation

Cryobiology offers an important opportunity to assist in the management and study of wildlife, including endangered species. The benefits of developing genome resource banks for wildlife are profound, perhaps more so than for traditional uses in terms of livestock and human fertility. In addition to preserving heterozygosity and assisting in the genetic management of rare populations held in captivity, frozen repositories help insure wild populations against natural and human-induced catastrophes. Such banks also are an invaluable source of new knowledge (for basic and applied research) from thousands of species that have yet to be studied. However, it is crucial that genome resource banks for wildlife species be developed in a coordinated fashion that first benefits the conservation of biodiversity. Spurious collections will be of no advantage to genuine conservation. The Conservation Breeding Specialist Group (CBSG; of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources' Species Survival Commission) has promoted international dialogue on this topic. CBSG working groups have recognized that such repositories be developed according to specific, scientific guidelines consistent with an international standard that ensures practicality, high-quality ethics, and cost-effectiveness. Areas requiring priority attention also are reviewed, including the need for more basic research, advocacy, and support for developing organized repositories of biomaterials representing the world's diverse biota.     

Responsible resource management: the predicament and reform path for Chinese wetland conservation

Despite national conservation policies, international agreements and public support related to wetlands, a wide range of agricultural development and public works projects have resulted in the over-exploitation and degradation of wetlands during the past decades in China. The phenomenon of “the tragedy of the commons” in Chinese wetland conservation is recognized as an incentive problem provoked by a multi-stakeholder situation. This paper examines the governance of China’s wetlands and its hierarchical and functional–behavioral characteristics within the context of resource management. The results show that the administrative system in China wetland management depends on resource element-oriented legislation, in that various agencies managing different resources place various demands on wetland resources. This paper analyzes the responsibilities and incentives of various government administrators and other stakeholders as well as their behavioral logic and why such a multi-stakeholder mode fails to provide adequate wetland conservation. Using Heilongjiang Province as an example, it explains the conflicts between stakeholders within both the legislative system and those who administer wetland management. In addition, it suggests improvements, especially in the form of an integrated management system with an appropriate and unified system of administration.