Browsing by Subject "Conservation"

Now showing 1 - 17 of 17

2008 Farm Bill Update: Conservation and Energy Programs
(2009-01) Anderson, Greg; Flynn, Paul; Noty, Lisa; Current, Dean; Hachfeld, Gary; Nichols, Luke; Sackett, Jill; Wilsey, Dave; Wyatt, Gary; Zamora, Diomy
The 2008 Farm Bill contains updated and new conservation programs to protect soil, water, air and wildlife resources while offering economic incentives for landowners and farmers. It also provides for additional energy programs which encourage landowner production and community development of bio-energy feedstocks and bio-industrial systems.
Assessment of residents' social and economic Wellbeing in conservation resettlement: a case study of Padampur, Chitwan National Park, Nepal.
(2011-12) Dhakal, Narayan P.
Conservation resettlement is a controversial issue in balancing biological conservation with the people’s social and economic needs. Very few studies have examined the conservation resettlement outcome, and majority of them view resettlement as counterintuitive to the people’s livelihood in the name of biological conservation. This thesis focuses on residents’ responses on social, economic and environmental consequences of a voluntary resettlement. Studies of forced resettlement during the creation and maintenance of national parks and protected areas have found negative socioeconomic consequences for human wellbeing. I investigated residents’ social and economic wellbeing following a citizeninitiated resettlement program in Padampur, Nepal. We found a difference between voluntary and forced resettlement respondents in overall satisfaction as well as evaluation of land quality and employment factors. However, there was no difference in their evaluation of land ownership, housing, physical infrastructure, health, social ties, and support services as having positive outcomes. Most respondents reported being socially and economically better off in the new location. In the future, economic status, food and nutrition, and marginalization of some groups could potentially reduce satisfaction. Residents’ post resettlement economic wellbeing is an important factor in balancing conservation and socioeconomic needs. After the resettlement, we found more residents were engaged in off-farm jobs, micro-enterprises, and physical facilities which were serving their needs. Our findings suggest that considering the following factors in resettlement planning may provide better post resettlement economic wellbeing: a) participatory and bottom up planning; b) fair compensation of physical asset; and c) provision of basic needs for water, and facilities for health and education. I emphasize the need of participatory resettlement planning models, and feel that the results have general applications to resettlement efforts. To see the biological aspects of the resettlement, I assessed the prey abundance in the evacuated area in comparison to the abundance in the park core area. I have chosen Sambar Unit (SU) as a measurement unit to assess the prey abundance. SU is significant with more prey abundance in the evacuated area than the core area of the park. Residents’ perceived biodiversity loss and gain was assessed in both locations (old and new). After the resettlement, residents’ positive perception in restoring wildlife habitat in the old site decreased pressure and decreased human wildlife conflicts. In the new site, I found increased understanding on sustainable utilization of natural resources through community forestry by reducing forest dependency. I suggest the need of periodic monitoring of post resettlement biological and socioeconomic gains to evaluate the long term viability of voluntary resettlement for conservation and residents’ better wellbeing. We suggest future conservation related resettlement consider lessons from the Padampur model.
Caring for nature: motivations for and outcomes of conservation volunteer work.
(2009-09) Guiney, Margaret Savanick
The question of what motivates individuals to become conservation volunteers is a critical question for numerous conservation programs that help maintain and improve the environmental quality in modern society. Drawing on literature from the fields of volunteer work, social psychology, leisure, program evaluation and environmental studies, I developed a theoretical framework that explores the connection between motivation and outcomes. Based on this framework, I used a mixed-method approach -- combining surveys and interviews of Minnesota Master Naturalist volunteers -- to better understand what motivates individuals to become conservation volunteers and the outcomes of their efforts. The Minnesota Master Naturalist Program is a volunteer program that educates adults about Minnesota's natural resources and provides opportunities to take part in local conservation projects. I found that both a psychological connection to nature and sense of community both affect conservation volunteer work. A connection to nature both helped initial and sustained participant motivation for conservation volunteer work. A connection to nature is likely an essential characteristic of a conservation volunteer. For most participants this connection began in childhood and volunteering as an adult helped them to stay connected to nature. Shared environmental values may be one of the more important aspects of building a sense of community for conservation volunteers. An extensive training class was a good opportunity for participants to build a sense of community. After an intensive training class, the strong sense of community diminished likely due to a lack of frequent interaction. Creating opportunities for participants to continue to interact after the class may help maintain a sense of community. Conservation volunteer work benefits the environment, the volunteer, and society.
Carver County Conservation Incentive Zoning Option
(Minneapolis: Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, 2010) Shively, Emily
The Conservation Reserve Program in Minnesota: 1986-89 Enrollment Characteristics and Program Impacts
(Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station, 1989) Taff, Steven J.
Ecological and sociological aspects of human-tiger conflicts in Chitwan National Park, Nepal
(2008-07) Gurung, Bhim Bahadur.
The human-tiger conflict has become a major threat to long-term tiger survival and well being of local people living around tiger reserves. Mitigation of this conflict is considered most critical in multiple use forested areas where tiger ecological needs and human livelihood needs overlap. My thesis seeks to gain a better understanding of this conflict. I investigated ecological and sociological aspects of man-eating cases in and around Chitwan National Park Nepal, with an ultimate aim of guiding mitigation policies and management. Additionally, I investigated the impact of grazing restrictions on livestock husbandry practices, and also evaluated the people's perceptions and tolerance towards tigers in Madi Valley, within the Chitwan National Park. I obtained three decades of man-eating cases (1979-2006), each case was re-examined by visiting victim's families, or person present at the time of the incidents. Likewise, tiger's responsible for killing these people were also re-investigated by visiting Park veterinarian and zoo records. The site of each human kill and tiger removal was visited to measure habitat conditions when kills were made and where man-eating tigers occurred. A total of 36 tigers killed 88 people from 1979-2006. The trend of human loss increased from an average of 1.21 persons per year prior to 1997 to 7.22 per year since 1998. The rising trend is due to primarily increasing number of people killed in the buffer zones surrounding the Park. I classified the sex, age classes, condition of man-eating tigers, and also evaluated prey base at kill sites, and aggressiveness of tigers when people came to remove victims for cremation. Nearly half of the people killed were grass/fodder cutters. In chapter 3 the impact of grazing restriction on livestock husbandry practices is examined. Household survey data and secondary information measured the impact of changing access policies. Households needed to reduce their holdings of unproductive livestock and to switch to stall feeding. Higher stall feeding required local people to gather more fodder and increased human activities in the recovering forest may contribute to increase man-eating. In chapter 4 local people's beliefs about the importance of tiger and their tolerance levels is assessed from head of the household surveys. The value and tolerance levels are analyzed based on household demographics, resource use, and interaction with tigers. Local people highly value but only have moderate tolerance for tigers. Higher valuing and tolerance for tiger were significantly influenced by household's wealth. Furthermore, poor people were found to live closer to forest, use more forest resources, have high livestock depredation resulting in lower valuing and tolerance levels for tigers. To mitigate the conflict I recommend radio-collaring problem tigers (particularly in the buffer zone) to collect tigers behavioral and movement patterns to create 'no go' zone, continue long term tiger monitoring program by extending the cooperation of the local communities, implement a tiger conservation awareness to educate local people on tiger biology, and improve compensation program to increase local tolerance towards tiger.
Fleshing out conservation: performative ecologies and embodied practice in Chilean temperate rainforest management
(2012-08) Pratt, Kathryn C.
This dissertation brings recent theories of embodiment, practice, and performance to bear on community-based conservation in the temperate rainforest region of Southern Chile. The goal of the project is to respond to a problem that conservation scientists often call the “implementation crisis.” Essentially, we have abundant knowledge of conservation models, strategies, and best practices, but yet we still struggle to implement effective community-based projects on the ground. Political ecologists have tried to address this issue by unpacking the cultural politics of conservation, explaining the fate of projects in relation to, for example, competing understandings of community, conflicts around gender and social difference, or clashes between different knowledge systems. Problems occur, it is argued, when conditions on the ground do not conform to pre-given categories, such as when the lines between “local” and “expert” become blurred, or when complex and unbounded social relations contradict our notions of bounded, homogeneous communities. This dissertation works to challenge and extend these critical perspectives by “fleshing out” environmental practices in Chile. I argue that in emphasizing contentious cultural categories, practitioners and scholars alike have tended to neglect the everyday lived experiences of making conservation happen. The dissertation draws on fieldwork conducted with two projects based near the town of Valdivia, Chile: a newly formed private reserve that was partnering with local communities on conservation and development projects and a firewood certification program working with small landholders on sustainable forest management. The focus of my research is on the actual performance of conservation. I start not with cultural categories but with the material interactions that make projects tick. For example, I trace the movements of actors as they negotiate project work, study skills as they are learned and practiced in the field, examine collaborations as they take form, and explore how everyday misadventures can turn into creative solutions. To support my claims, I draw on a growing interdisciplinary body of research that addresses the creative, corporeal, and emergent nature of practice, including non-representational theories in geography, practice theories from sociology and anthropology, theories of embodied cognition from the cognitive sciences, and materialist feminisms. These literatures all contend that social processes are not just the outcome of competing ideas and representations, but also emerge from the actions of people physically engaged in their environment. Each chapter explores a different way in which practice plays a significant role in conservation projects. Chapter 2 presents a re-examination of the environmental politics of vision and representation by showing that vision is much more tied to bodily movement than has previously been assumed. Chapter 3 considers another central area of political ecology critique: the politics of environmental knowledge, especially clashes between “expert” scientific and “local” indigenous knowledge. Political ecologists claim that one of the problems of community-based conservation is that too often it involves imposing scientific modes of understanding on local groups whose indigenous forms of knowledge are not equally valued. I argue that what often gets ignored in these discussions is the role of embodied skill in constituting environmental know-how. Chapter 4 examines how collaboration works in conservation projects. Although there has been considerable discussion of the problematic use of the term community within grassroots conservation initiatives, I argue that these conversations too have tended to neglect the embodied, relational aspects of practice. As an alternative to the logic and counter-logic of community, I suggest developing a performative understanding of togetherness which I call “associating.” While chapters 2-4 all emphasize the novel and serendipitous qualities of conservation practice, Chapter 5 addresses repetition. I show that mundane, routine, and habitual aspects of conservation work are important for instilling the sensitivity and awareness to unspoken aspects of environmental projects. Moreover, I show how such tedium actually contributes to the creative process, rather than, as we might assume, introducing complacency in conservation. I conclude by reflecting on what is gained by developing a more “fleshy” understanding of conservation and environmental management.
Floral Enrichment of Turf Lawns to Benefit Pollinating Insects
(2016-05) Lane, Ian
Turf lawns are a common landscape modification in many anthropogenic habitats, and often the largest contributor to “green space” in urban landscapes. Despite the ubiquitous nature of lawns their function is largely subjective, based on the aesthetic values of its owner. This flexibility offers unique opportunities to develop cultural practices and planting strategies to meet alternative goals that land managers may have, such as habitat enhancement for pollinating insects. Within this thesis I explore a range of establishment and management techniques of various turf and forb species, with the goal of providing recommendations to lawn managers for maximizing bloom of bee friendly flowers. The results from these studies are a significant first step in the creation and management of flowering lawns, and will provide a basis for future work as the value of flowering lawns to bees continues to grow.
Interactions between domestic, invasive and threatened carnivores and their implications in conservation and pathogen transmission
(2013-07) Sepúlveda, Maximiliano Alvaro
When two individuals occur at the same place and time, a contact interaction occurs. In conservation, interactions between domestic animals and/or invasive species and wildlife pose a significant threat to endangered populations due to direct conflict, conflict over resources and, possibly most concerning, risk of infectious disease. However, in most cases, these interactions are not well characterized, particularly related to the drivers of why species interact, making managing these risks challenging. This is particularly true for disease risk. For infectious pathogens, such contact provides the most critical event for their persistence: disease transmission. In carnivores, this question of transmission and persistence is even more acute. In general, carnivores have low population densities and direct interactions with other carnivores tend to be rare or avoided. How, then, do diseases persist in these populations? This dissertation investigated the factors that drive interactions between species using a multi-species carnivore model composed of domestic dogs, invasive American mink and endangered Southern river otters in the Temperate Forest of Chile. Of particular interest as a model disease in this system was Canine Distemper Virus (CDV), a multi-host pathogen of carnivores and a disease of high conservation concern for endangered carnivores around the world. Previous work in wildlife indicates that multi-host systems are critical to the persistence of CDV in wild carnivores, making understanding interactions in a multi-carnivore system particularly important. Using this multi carnivore system, three studies were undertaken to better characterize drivers of carnivore interactions across species: Study 1 investigated how human management and use of domestic dogs influences dog-wildlife interactions using rural household surveys. Study 2 characterized domestic dog use of the landscape and risk factors for movement into protected areas and wildlife habitat. Finally, study 3 determined disease transmission risk among the three carnivore populations by characterizing interactions through household interviews and camera trapping using CDV as a model disease system. Results from Study 1 determined that dog-wild carnivore interactions are highly associated with dog's role as a guardian of livestock and are often encouraged by owners. This is in contrast to interactions with prey species that were associated with inadequate diet and were considered undesirable. Humans also shaped rural dog's demography dramatically, controlling their population through culling and highly skewed male: female ratios. In fact, so few animals were produced through reproduction, that most animals were imported from urban areas, providing an interesting opportunity to externally influence the population, control disease, and manage risk. Results from Study 2, indicate that land use by dogs is mostly concentrated within 200 meters of households and exhibits a notable diurnal pattern with dogs moving mostly during the day. Characterization of movement away from the house of origin (forays) found that dogs primarily use pastures to move with fewer visitations in continuous forest habitats including those in protected areas. Rivers appeared to present a barrier for dog movement; however, there were instances of them being crossed allowing access of dogs to protected lands. When moving in forest, dogs mostly used trails and roads. Finally, Study 3 determined that American mink interactions could potentially play a key role in CDV transmission and possibly persistence in this carnivore assemblage. Minks interacted frequently with otters at river otter latrines at intervals theoretically adequate for viable indirect transmission of CDV. As expected, dogs were rare in otter habitats; but dogs were seen interacting with American mink (killings or harassment) near households. Thus, mink in this system were acting as a potential `bridge host' between dog and otter populations. In addition, a high percentage of dogs and mink had serological evidence of exposure to CDV making the potential disease transfer risk to otters real. Altogether, this dissertation provides important information about the drivers of carnivore interactions related to disease risk in a multi-carnivore system. These interactions are not random, but rather they are driven by behavior both on the part of humans and their use and management of dogs, as well as by species-specific movement and territorial behaviors. Understanding rural dog's use and management by farmers and how dogs move on the landscape will also provide useful information to improve the integrated management of dog-wildlife interactions around protected lands. This will be important for the management not only of direct and indirect conflict, but also of disease risk in an apparent CDV reservoir in this natural ecosystem. Particularly interesting, the recent invasion of the American mink further complicates interaction risk as their movements on the landscape alter the carnivore community composition and, therefore, interactions among populations. This new population of mink may even provide sufficient population density in this ecosystem to allow persistence of CDV and other diseases that would otherwise outstrip its host population and collapse. This question of how introduced species alter population interactions in the context of disease transmission risk is poorly understood and bears future research. Altogether, the work presented in this dissertation shows the importance of incorporating human drivers in the management of conservation areas. In this system, understanding human management and use of dogs, dog movements on the landscape, and how human-introduced invasive species are changing multi-host pathogen dynamics are all critical factors in protecting threatened carnivores in the Valdivian Temperate Forest.
Making Space for Evaluation to Strengthen Conservation Innovation
(2023-06) Meyer, Nathan
Providing growing global populations with sustainable sources of clean water, food, and energy are existential grand challenges rapidly growing in magnitude and severity. These challenges are exacerbated by wicked social-ecological problems like climate change that make formulaic, one-size-fits-all solutions impossible. Managing these challenges increasingly calls for the engagement of citizen and professional networks in partnerships to advance transformative, social-ecological innovations. Such innovations aim to radically redesign our ways of living and working together to better balance our productivity, prosperity, and conservation of natural resources. Cooperative extension, soil and water conservation, and other community-situated conservation professionals are well-situated to play critical roles in developing and supporting such innovation partnerships. But incremental innovation diffusion strategies that are likely familiar and typically utilized by these institutions are ill-suited to the complexity of transformative innovation. More promising is facilitating adaptive innovation management, or collaboration and social learning processes that strengthen and support partnership capabilities for co-experimenting with transformative solutions. However, there is a critical need to refine and make widespread the practice of adaptive innovation management. This dissertation aims to support the widespread practice of adaptive innovation management through building understanding of how and when to productively integrate evaluation to enhance and accelerate innovation through structuring systematic processes of questioning, collecting, and analyzing social-ecological data, called evaluative thinking. The following chapters describe results and implications of an integrative theory and a sequence of three studies focused on an exemplary University of Minnesota innovation partnership, the Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships (RSDP). A first integrative theory characterizes innovation as a practice of group learning through collaborative deliberation and experimentation that can be accelerated and supported through semi-structured interventions, called adaptive innovation management. It describes how evaluative thinking is an inherent dimension of learning to grow and scale conservation-focused innovations and illuminates how certain developmental evaluation approaches are promising to guide efforts to strengthen evaluative thinking in conservation innovation partnerships like RSDP. A second study describes using a modified-Delphi method to reach consensus among a select group of experienced professionals about important considerations for deciding how and when to infuse developmental evaluation into partnership innovation practices. Three frameworks of important concepts and conceptual dimensions are developed for evaluative thinking, effective developmental evaluation design, and partnership evaluation capacities that can be assessed to guide the integration of developmental evaluation. These frameworks are then used in a set of RSDP case studies to illuminate strategies for effectively integrating developmental evaluation into partnership activities. One case study describes the analysis of survey and qualitative data to identify strategies to help RSDP leaders manage perceived challenges with integrating evaluation into partnership activities. A second case study describes certain RSDP learning activities and written artifacts that are opportune starting points for efficiently and effectively integrating developmental evaluation to strengthen innovation learning practice. Scholarly and practical motivations for doing this are threefold: 1) to inform the growing literature on transdisciplinary approaches to develop and enhance conditions for social-ecological innovation, 2) to improve understanding in the emergent discipline of developmental evaluation about how it can function in the context of such conditions, and 3) to guide land grant organizational development to strengthen social-ecological innovation.
Multilocus assessment of population differentiation in Baja California birds: implications for community assembly and conservation
(2014-08) Vazquez Miranda, Hernan
This dissertation is an assessment of biological diversification at the community, species, and population levels from large continental scales in the Americas to small regions between Mexico and the U.S. using birds as a study system. In Chapter 1, I calculate when the avian community of the Baja California peninsula diverged from the mainland using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences. I discovered that even though birds fly and could have arrived to the peninsula in independent dispersal waves, genetic estimates correspond to few events of diversification that correspond to historical barriers to gene flow and more recent ecologic scenarios. Additionally, I find evidence for recognizing four peninsular lineages as valid species, doubling the number of endemic birds in Baja California. Chapter 2 is a collaboration with Keith Barker. In it, we explore the continental diversification of wrens in the genus Campylorhynchus solving all evolutionary relationships by sequencing 23 genes and multiple individuals per lineage, developing a new metric for comparing all sorts of phylogenetic trees, and clarifying biogeographic and behavioral evolution aspects in the Neotropics. In Chapter 3, me and collaborators Kelly Barr, Craig Farquhar, and Robert Zink merge historic fire ecology and population genetics to understand how and when the black-capped vireo (Vireo atricapilla), went from being a historically common bird to being considered currently as endangered in its breeding grounds in the oak savannas of Oklahoma, Texas and northern Mexico. Five online supplementary files (OSFs) accompany this dissertation: the first file includes voucher numbers, geographic information, substitution models, used primers, and full likelihood values in Chapter 1 (OSF 1); the second file contains Bayesian trees ivand taxon pair distributions in Chapter 1 (OSF 2); the third file includes voucher numbers, evolutionary models, recombination tests, and primers used in Chapter 2 (OSF 3); the fourth file includes the randomization design in Chapter 2 (OSF 4); and the fifth file includes geographic information for all samples, primers, and multilocus phylogeny of vireos used in Chapter 3 (OSF 5).
Northern Hawk Owl (Surnia ulula caparoch) Movement and Habitat Use
(2023-05) Toutonghi, Hannah
Northern Hawk Owls (Surnia ulula caparoch, hereafter hawk owl) are one of the least studied birds in North America. Conservation of hawk owls requires the understanding of hawk owl habitat use and movements throughout the annual cycle, including activity in winter. To understand these important periods of the annual cycle, we implemented novel use of GPS/GSM transmitters to monitor the activity and movement of 11 hawk owls in northern Minnesota and southern Manitoba. The data from these individuals was used to determine if hawk owls had a winter home range and if they selected specific habitats within them. Secondly, eBird data was used to create a Species Distribution Model to categorize habitat suitability. Results showed that hawk owls do establish winter home ranges and home ranges were smaller than expected. Additionally, in winter, hawk owls selected for wetland habitat and were positively associated with edge characteristics in both analyzes.
Quality connections: recreation , property ownership, place attachment, and conservation of Minnesota Lakes.
(2009-05) Schroeder, Susan Arlene
Recently, people have expressed concerns about how declining outdoor recreation participation and increasing housing development in high-amenity areas may affect conservation attitudes and behaviors as well as environmental quality. Recreation participation and property ownership have been identified as antecedents to place attachment. However, limited research has examined how people develop attachments to specific places and how these attachments relate to management preferences and support for conservation of specific areas. This study used data from two 2004 surveys addressing the management of lakes and aquatic plants in Minnesota. One study was conducted with a sample of Minnesota residents and the other with a sample of lakeshore landowners on "fisheries lakes" in the state. Data were analyzed to examine relationships among recreation participation, lakeshore property ownership, place attachment, and intentions to conserve lakes. Four clusters of recreationists were identified: all-around, appreciative, consumptive, and less-involved. Respondents were also segmented based on their ownership of lakeshore property, and whether property was used as a primary or second home. This study contributed to research on how participation in outdoor recreation relates to environmental attitudes and behavioral intentions. Results suggested that recreation participation relates to attitudes and behavioral intentions for lake protection. Among members of the general public, less-involved participants in lake-based recreation reported significantly lower intentions to take political or philanthropic action to protect lakes. Appreciative recreationists from the general public sample were more likely to take political action, while all-around and consumptive recreationists were somewhat more likely to donate time and money to protect lakes. Among lakeshore property owners, less-involved recreation participants reported lower personal responsibility for protecting their lake generally and a lower rating of personal norms for protecting native aquatic plants. However, all-around recreationists from the lakeshore property owner sample reported significantly higher behavioral intentions to remove native aquatic plants compared to appreciative, consumptive, and less-involved recreationists. The study advanced research on place attachment by: (a) examining visitors' and residents' attachment to Minnesota lakes and (b) how place attachment relates to conservation attitudes and behavioral intentions. Stronger place attachment was associated with property ownership and frequency of recreation participation. The study developed a scale to measure family connections to a lake, which was introduced in this dissertation as normative place attachment. Results supported previous research that has suggested: (a) a positive relationship between outdoor recreation and environmental attitudes, and (b) differences based on the type of recreation participation. Study findings suggested the importance of recreation participation to protection of Minnesota lakes. Participation in lake-based outdoor recreation was related to place attachment, personal responsibility, and behavioral intentions related to lakes. In particular, less-involved recreation participants reported lower levels of attitudinal and normative place attachment to lakes, expressed less personal responsibility for protecting lakes, and had the lowest intentions of taking philanthropic or political action to protect lakes. However, a substantial amount of unexplained variance remained in models of attitudes and behavioral intentions related to the protection of lakes and aquatic plants. Future studies of recreation, property ownership, place attachment, and conservation, could incorporate more comprehensive measures of recreation participation, place attachment, "insidedness" to a place, and environmental attitudes, and behavioral intentions. In addition, future research could examine the influence of place meanings, environmental values, social capital, sense of community, political ideology, educational background, and length of association with a place on environmental attitudes, behavioral intentions, and actual behaviors.
Simple solutions to complex problems in fisheries
(2014-06) Burgess, Matthew G.
Fisheries science faces a challenging combination of complexity and data limitation that places opposing pressures on theoretical research - which seeks to describe the complexity - and empirical research - which is constrained to simplicity by the limitations of available data. In this volume, I present studies aiming to reconcile theoretical and empirical approaches to assessing the current status of fished populations and designing management plans in two ways: i) by using concise mechanistic theories rooted in measurable parameters to develop new predictive assessment tools; and ii) by using ecological and economic theory to develop insights whose applications are not data-dependent or system specific. My research provides several important insights for assessment and management in fisheries: 1) Combinations of biological and socioeconomic conditions that eventually lead to extinction or overfishing can often be empirically identified decades before high harvest rates and large population declines occur, allowing for preventative management. 2) Though there is concern that harvest value, which rises as a harvested species is depleted, can allow profits to be maintained it is driven extinct, this threat most often also requires catch-rates to be substantially robust to declining abundance. Because range contraction often buffers population densities against abundance declines, habitat destruction may exacerbate threats of overharvesting. 3) Assessments based on single-species population models in multispecies fisheries can often provide reliable estimates of sustainable yields and harvest rates in populations with high vulnerability to overfishing, but often significantly overestimate sustainable yields and harvest rates in populations with lower vulnerability. However, single-species assessment frameworks can nonetheless be used to identify conditions leading to such bias, and estimate bounds on its magnitude. 4) Diversifying technologies and efficiencies within fishing fleets often leads to fewer population collapses in both managed and unmanaged fisheries; and increases the positive impact management can make on fishery yields and profits. The studies in this volume provide new perspectives on theoretical-empirical synergies in fisheries research, and maximizing the information value of fisheries data through theoretical concision and ecological abstraction.
Student Readiness for Conservation Careers: Identifying critical skills needed for success in the 21st century natural resource conservation workforce
(University of Minnesota Extension, 2018) Meyer, Rebecca; Meyer, Nathan; Kingery, Linda; Clarke, Rose
There is a growing variety of research, management and innovation opportunities in conservation fields. Knowing what organizations will expect in terms of professional capabilities is important for directing the continued education, growth, and development of young adults and early career professionals. Unfortunately, these are not well known. Most existing inventories were developed through theoretical or retrospective analyses of pre-existing jobs and position descriptions. To guide preparation of successful next generation of professionals, we endeavored to pivot this perspective 180 degrees to explore how current new employee performance and future trends in conservation can inform a revised set of critical professional skills and abilities. An interdisciplinary research team synthesized a list of skills and abilities from existing research. We interviewed a purposeful sample of nine conservation professionals, representing a range of agencies, disciplines, and organization types about skills and mindsets that contributed to her/his success, experiences with new employee success, future trends in conservation work. From these interviews, we synthesized a group of four trends likely to influence next generation conservation career mindsets and skills, as well as a framework of eight critical skills and mindsets for early career development of 21st century conservation professionals.
Wildlife conservation in social, economic, and ecological contexts: multiple stakeholders and extraordinary resource value in a Congolese National Park.
(2008-12) Wieland, Michelle Lynn
Wildlife conservation in Central Africa is a challenging endeavor because protected areas exist in complex social landscapes. Conflicts between stakeholders with multiple interests over natural resources, land, and wildlife pose some of the difficult problems facing conservationists and require scientific, social, and ethical approaches for resolution. To protect wildlife, managers at Conkouati-Douli National Park in southern Republic of Congo use zoning and law enforcement strategies to legally dictate how stakeholder groups use the natural resources. I examine these strategies and suggest that the ways stakeholders value and use the natural environment can elucidate conflicts surrounding wildlife conservation. Drawing from history, anthropology, and ecology, I examine conservation on both a macro and village level. At a macro level, stakeholder conflicts over industrial exploitation and hunting threaten zoning efforts to protect wildlife populations. Weak government authority to enforce zoning, coupled with divergent stakeholders aims and abilities, hinder effective conservation of the Park. At a village-level focus, I examine the relationship between rural peoples, wildlife, and the National Park. People use wildlife for food and their livelihoods. Results from ecological surveys reveal human populations inside the Park negatively influence wildlife populations, and low overall mammal densities that declined with proximity to villages. A study on food consumption reveals that because the bushmeat trade is so lucrative, villagers have switched to fish proteins that come from either the Park or urban centers. Such a study provides insight into patterns and drivers of protein switching in tropical forests. It also reveals a generational change, which is behind the change in protein diets, and the over harvesting of wild proteins. Overhunting has induced Park management to engage in law enforcement, which adversely affects the livelihoods of rural families by reducing income, increasing women's labor demands, and reducing access to hospitals and schooling. Law enforcement appears effective in the short-term at reducing hunting and bushmeat trafficking, but it may also weaken prospects for long-term conservation because it increases local residents' animosity towards conservation initiatives, organizations, and personnel. The studies demonstrate the importance of understanding the values and uses of natural resources by other stakeholders, and the need to communicate in conservation efforts.
Windows, Mirrors, and the Unrepresentable Earth
(University of Minnesota, Department of Art, 2017) Johnson, Michael T
"Windows, Mirrors, and the Unrepresentable Earth" is Michael Johnson's written thesis submitted to the faculty of the Department of Art in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Fine Arts Degree in Art 2017.

University Digital Conservancy

Browse by Subject

Browsing by Subject "Conservation"