The National Trust and nature conservation: prospects for the future

The range and extent of nature conservation interests on land owned by the National Trust are reviewed and the high level of protection which can be afforded to such features is stressed. Some of the threats to such interests are examined and possible conflicts between management for nature conservation and for other Trust objectives are considered. The importance of survey and monitoring are emphasized. It is argued that nature conservationists need to adopt a view of plant communities which recognises their dynamic nature and which accepts the possibility of change. Evidence is reviewed which supports the non-equilibrium state of some communities, the impact of rare events and the importance of life history phenomena. Some possible future directions of nature conservation in the Trust are discussed.     

Exploring Wellness of Wildlife Carers in New Zealand: A Descriptive Study

The rescue and care of vulnerable wildlife is rewarding. Most people involved in animal rescue have a strong commitment to service but the work can be profoundly challenging. The ability to know and respond appropriately to an animal's needs depends on the professional skills and knowledge of wildlife carers. In the face of unrelenting suffering and countless numbers of animals in need, there are multiple stressors, vulnerabilities, and barriers that can undermine carers’ wellbeing and put them at risk of compassion fatigue. The balance between compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue is considered professional quality of life. The aim of this study was to provide a preliminary understanding of the potential for compassion satisfaction and the risk of compassion fatigue among wildlife carers within New Zealand. Thirty wildlife carers voluntarily completed a self-report survey, which included questions on socio-demographics, self-perceived quality of life (EUROHIS-QOL), professional quality of life (ProQOL), job satisfaction, motivation for ongoing work in wildlife rehabilitation, and coping mechanisms. We found that there were significant differences in compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue on the basis of age, gender, financial capability, and years of experience. Overall, this sample showed high levels of compassion satisfaction and low levels of compassion fatigue. Understanding the elements of professional quality of life can have a positive effect on work environment. These results may provide clues to help identify wildlife carers’ strengths for compassion satisfaction and vulnerabilities to compassion fatigue, and to help develop strategies to improve their professional quality of life.     

Creating Navajo “Gatos” Bracelets

In this article, the author offers a short summary of the findings of the the National Endowment for the Arts report on the status of reading, To Read or Not to Read: A Question of National Consequence, and an explanation of the guiding rationale for the study and some future areas of research that seem warranted in light of public responses to the data.     

Giving More to Humans than to Animals in Need? A Behavioral Measure of Animal–Human Continuity in Large-scale Surveys

Survey research on attitudes and behavior toward animals is affected by the hypothetical character of behavioral measurements and socially desirable responses. Drawing on previous research in the fields of environmental behavior and behavioral economics, we combined the advantages of incentivized behavioral experiments and large-scale surveys by asking 2,299 participants in “dictator games” to allocate 10 euros between a charity for poverty reduction and themselves, as well as between a charity for animal protection and themselves (presented in counterbalanced order, with 200 allocations paid to the charities and participants). On average, participants donated approximately 70% of the 10 euros to each charity but donated slightly more money (0.42 euros) for poverty reduction than animal protection. Interestingly, participants allocated the same amount of money to the first charity (whether for humans or animals), but their second allocation depended on the charity and indicated an anthropocentric bias (i.e., higher allocations to poverty reduction than animal protection). Women donated more for animal protection than men, and stronger pro-animal attitudes were associated with higher donations for animal protection. We also found a positive effect of a “social desirability” scale on incentivized donations. In sum, our study finds that participants gave more to humanitarian than animal charities. However, this difference is less than fifty cents and, consequently, minor in magnitude.     

Effects of point‐count duration on estimated detection probabilities and occupancy of breeding birds

Increasingly, point‐count data are used to estimate occupancy, the probability that a species is present at a given location; occupancy accounts for imperfect detection, the probability that a species is detected given that it is present. To our knowledge, effects of sampling duration on inferences from models of bird occupancy have not been evaluated. Our objective was to determine whether changing count duration from 5 to 8 min affected inferences about the occupancy of birds sampled in the Chesapeake Bay Lowlands (eastern United States) and the central and western Great Basin (western United States) in 2012 and 2013. We examined the proportion of species (two doves, one cuckoo, two swifts, five hummingbirds, 11 woodpeckers, and 122 passerines) for which estimates of detection probability were ≥ 0.3. For species with single‐season detection probabilities ≥ 0.3, we compared occupancy estimates derived from 5‐ and 8‐min counts. We also compared estimates for three species sampled annually for 5 yr in the central Great Basin. Detection probabilities based on both the 5‐ and 8‐min counts were ≥ 0.3 for 40% ± 3% of the species in an ecosystem. Extending the count duration from 5 to 8 min increased the detection probability to ≥ 0.3 for 5% ± 0.5% of the species. We found no difference in occupancy estimates that were based on 5‐ versus 8‐min counts for species sampled over two or five consecutive years. However, for 97% of species sampled over 2 yr, precision of occupancy estimates that were based on 8‐min counts averaged 12% ± 2% higher than those based on 5‐min counts. We suggest that it may be worthwhile to conduct a pilot season to determine the number of locations and surveys needed to achieve detection probabilities that are sufficiently high to estimate occupancy for species of interest.     

The apparent establishment and subsequent eradication of the Australian giant bulldog ant Myrmecia brevinoda Forel (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in New Zealand

Abstract

The Australian giant bulldog ant Myrmecia brevinoda Forel was first observed in New Zealand in 1940 (Keall 1981). Further observations of this species were made at a location in Devonport in 1948 and 1965, and a nest destroyed at this site in 1981. Since this time no further observations have been made, yet the status of this species is commonly listed as “uncertain establishment” on New Zealand faunal lists. We describe the control procedure used in 1981. In addition, to determine its current status we resurveyed ants in the area of earlier infestation using visual searches, pitfall trapping, and a reward for discovery posted to local residents. No evidence of M. brevinoda was found, though several other invasive species were found, including the Argentine ant Linepithema humile (Mayr), Pheidole rugosula Forel, and a recently established Australian cryptic Solenopsis species. Given the results of our survey and the absence of other reports of M. brevinoda over the last 24 years, we consider this species to be extinct or eradicated from New Zealand.     

A novel multiple-site extension to pairwise partitioned taxonomic beta diversity

Our understanding of the causes of variation in taxonomic composition, or beta diversity, is progressing rapidly, thanks in part to recent methodological advances. For example, methods for partitioning beta diversity into its “replacement” and “richness” components have helped reveal patterns that had been undetected by traditional analyses. These partitioning methods are derived from pairwise dissimilarity measures, and are thus well suited to many conventional beta diversity analyses, including “distance decay” relationships. However, pairwise beta diversity measures have limitations, including their lack of information about taxa that are shared among three or more sites. Recently, a new suite of multiple-site counterparts to the pairwise partitioning measures of beta diversity was proposed, but the pairwise analogs upon which these were based were subsequently criticized, and compelling arguments were presented in favor of other partitioning approaches. Here, we introduce multiple-site partitioning measures that address these shortcomings, and illustrate their desirable properties using numerical simulations. We also provide an empirical example of their utility by analyzing the temporal beta diversity of breeding birds within the conterminous USA. We show that temporal beta diversity is predominantly driven by replacement rather than richness differences, and correspondingly, that correlations between temporal beta diversity and productivity and elevation are driven primarily by the replacement component. Furthermore, in contrast to existing multiple-site measures, we show that richness differences do play an important part in driving overall beta diversity patterns. Our new multiple-site measures therefore complement existing methods for analyzing beta diversity, and are especially suitable when compositional heterogeneity is the response of interest.     

A Study of Environmental Awareness and Attitudes in Ibadan,Nigeria

Biodiversity and the natural environment have suffered a huge negative impact around the world as a result of excessive exploitation by humans and the often short-sighted economic policies of national governments. Some scientists have asserted that the resolution of this problem may lie in a proper examination and understanding of human knowledge of, and attitudes toward, the environment. In this study, we examine the distribution of environmental awareness and attitudes in Ibadan, south-western Nigeria across sociodemographic categories. We found that contrary to a number of findings from studies in other parts of the world, older respondents were the most concerned about the environment and youths were not more knowledgeable than older individuals about environmental issues. Male respondents had more knowledge than females but gender did not affect other aspects of environmental attitudes. However, occupation and education both had marked effects on environmental knowledge and attitudes. Our study suggests that given the current socioeconomic situation in Nigeria, and limited knowledge of environmental issues, the most effective strategy for promoting environmentally responsible behavior and positive attitudes regarding less obvious issues such as biodiversity loss might simply be to increase exposure to straightforward messages emphasizing their relevance.     

Nitrogen deposition causes widespread loss of species richness in British habitats

We use national scale data to test the hypothesis that nitrogen (N) deposition is strongly negatively correlated with plant species richness in a wide range of ecosystem types. Vegetation plots from a national ecological surveillance programme were drawn from heathland, acid, calcareous and mesotrophic grassland habitats. Mean species number and mean plant traits were calculated for each plot and related to atmospheric N deposition. There was a significant reduction in species richness with N deposition in acid grassland and heathland even after fitting covarying factors. In acid grassland and heathland, evidence from trait changes suggested that acidification rather than increased fertility was responsible for species loss. In contrast, calcareous grassland showed evidence of eutrophication in response to increasing N deposition. Loss of species richness from chronic N deposition is apparent in infertile grasslands and heathland. Mechanisms associated with loss of species richness differ between habitats so mitigation of N deposition should be targeted to habitat type.