Conservation and Restoration Ecology Seminar Series.

This Monday Nov. 16th (6-7pm) seminar series will feature a double-header on
Eel Grass Research and Restoration
by
Carol Blanchette and Jessie Alstatt

Seminars are in Rm 1013, Harder South.

Endangered species

The Fish and Wildlife service keep a nicely organized webpage on endangered species that makes it easy to pull out virtually any statistic you might want. Although they don't have a listing by administration they do have a listing by year and 2009 has seen the addition of one animal, the Reticulated flatwoods salamander (due to taxonomy change - one species was divided into two and so a new listing is required), and two plants the Slick Spot Peppergrass and Phyllostegia hispida - a member of the mint family with no common name.

Good news today as one more species was removed from the endangered species list - the Brown Pelican was removed - and for genuine recovery reasons too!

And a correction. Just because I just heard about it doesn't mean this news was quite as minty fresh as I thought. The announcement by the Obama administration that it will take steps to confront the candidate species backlog actually dates back to September this year.

The law says Interior must issue a "finding" -- a decision on whether a species deserves a listing -- 12 months from its receipt of a listing petition. But petitions are going unanswered for an average of 11 years, the center says, and often are not addressed until forced by a judicial order.

The Obama administration says it is going to change how candidate species are handled. The Fish and Wildlife Service, the Interior agency responsible for the management of endangered species, is working on an accelerated listing process, said Doug Krofta, the service's listing chief. With new techniques and more funding, Krofta said, the service can trim the candidate list by 25 percent by the end of 2010.

Forty-eight parrots

Michael Gilpin wrote an interesting essay for Conservation Biology about parrots, spotted-owls, fruit fly bristles and the origins of population viability analysis. It's only a couple of pages and is full of interesting details.
Forty-eight parrots and the origins of population viability analysis

Freakonomics

Although the Freakonomics books are probably rightly criticized for some oversimplifications, I find the blog to be absolutely fascinating. I'd call it my favorite way to waste time on the internet except that I'm not sure it is a waste of time, I always learn a bunch of stuff I didn't know, and didn't know that I didn't know.

Justin Wolfers, one of the regular contributors, has a 6 part series on the economics of happiness which reanalyzes the traditional story.

• The Economics of Happiness, Part 1: Reassessing the Easterlin Paradox
• The Economics of Happiness, Part 2: Are Rich Countries Happier than Poor Countries?
• The Economics of Happiness, Part 3: Historical Evidence
• The Economics of Happiness, Part 4: Are Rich People Happier than Poor People?
• The Economics of Happiness, Part 5: Will Raising the Incomes of All Raise the Happiness of All?
• The Economics of Happiness, Part 6: Delving Into Subjective Well-Being

Great stuff - and although it might not seem relevant to conservation biology it is very much central to the biggest picture

Marine Ecosystem-Based Management Consensus Statement

Communication Partnership for Science and the Sea (COMPASS) provided a great definition of ecosystem-based management in their Consensus Statement.

"On March 21st, 2005, COMPASS released a Scientific Consensus Statement on Marine Ecosystem-Based Management. This document, signed by more than 220 scientists and policy experts from academic institutions across the U.S., highlights current scientific understanding of marine ecosystems, explains how this knowledge shapes the call for a new management approach, and provides a definition for what the scientific community envisions when it recommends "ecosystem-based management" for the oceans."

National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis

This center is a part of your university! Check out their website. Here is their mission statement.

Ecosystem management in Madagascar during global change

An interesting article on Madagascar's efforts to prioritize areas to manage in the face of climate change and deforestation.

More food for thought (and a picture of a sloth)

Two species of three-toed sloth — 15 million years of evolution.

A great News Feature in the journal Nature in 2007 about Conservation Priorities: What to let go summarizes some of the key work in this field of research.

It expands the idea of Conservation priorities into two areas we have not discussed yet - taking account of taxonomic distinctiveness (hence the sloth) and cost

“You could make an analogy with art,” says Isaac. “You are in a spaceship leaving Earth with three paintings. Do you take three Rembrandts, or do you take one Rembrandt, one Leonardo and one Picasso?”

Snowy Plover docents wanted

Calling all community members:
Can you spare 2 hours per week? We need your help! Train to become a Snowy Plover Docent and help us protect this threatened species at Sands Beach, Coal Oil Point.

The next training will be offered Sat., November 7th, 2009,
9AM, at the Cliff House. During the training, we provide a DVD featuring the collaborative researcher projects at Coal Oil Point, a presentation about plover ecology and natural history, instruction about the docent role, AND a brief tour of the plover site. Biking and driving directions are below with instructions.

If you have any questions, please call
(805) 893-3703 or email: stroh@lifesci.ucsb.edu

Jennifer Stroh
Snowy Plover Docent Program Coordinator

Only 1 in 3

Only 57% of Americans believe there is solid scientific evidence that the Earth's atmosphere is warming, said a recent poll of 1,500 people by the Pew Research Centre for the People & the Press.

That is a fall of 77% from 2007. The number of people who believe that human activity is causing global warming also fell to just 36%.

Just to put that in perspective about a third of Americans believe in ghosts (34 percent) and UFOs (34 percent), and about a quarter believe in astrology (29 percent), reincarnation (25 percent) and witches (24 percent). ie between a quarter and a third of Americans will believe in any old crazy crap.

James Hoggan, a PR executive and author of Climate Cover-Up, blamed an intense lobbying campaign against global warming legislation now before the Senate. "I would say a big part of this problem is this campaign to mislead Americans about climate science," he said. "This is a very sophisticated group of people who know how to create doubt and confusion and they have done a very good job of it."