A Biological Survey for the Nation (1994) / Chapter Skim
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1 THE VALUE OF A BIOLOGICAL SURVEY FOR THE NATION
1 THE VALUE OF A BIOLOGICAL SURVEY FOR THE NATION
Pages 25-58
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From page 25... ...
Biodiversity is the foundation of biotechnology, an important and growing economic activity. The nation's ecosystems provide such valuable environmental services as controlling floods, conserving and forming soils, assimilating pollutants, and moderating local climates.
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From page 26... ...
(As used in this report, the term biological resources refers to living organisms, their products, and the ecosystems in which they occur that are actually or potentially useful materially, ecologically, scientifically, or aesthetically or that are protected under law, treaty, or other legal instrument.) Despite those endeavors, the nation's biological diversity is in decline, and there are many unanswered questions about how it should be managed to support sustainably all the goods and For example, off Florida's Key Largo, coral reef area decreased in abundance by 30% in the last 20 years (Wilson, 19921.
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From page 27... ...
The societal consequences to society of these deficiencies are certain to increase in the future. The constantly growing pressures of human society on the environment guarantee that maintaining the functional integrity of ecological systems will become ever more difficult.
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From page 28... ...
, and the Bureau of Mines. The committee believes that the National Biological Survey will be a critical first step toward assembling a comprehensive assessment of the nation's biological resources.
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From page 29... ...
This joint, integrated enterprise can be called the National Partnership for Biological Survey (NPBS)
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From page 30... ...
This report will identify key needs that the new National Partnership should address and recommend ways to supply the missing elements. Some of the recommendations in this report are directed specifically to the National Biological Survey and some to the National Partnership.
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From page 31... ...
The National Partnership for Biological Survey, designed to remedy these deficiencies and weaknesses, would have the abilities to generate new information; to manage, analyze, and interpret the information through the development and use of organized databases; and to communicate information in appropriate and readily understood formats to a wide variety of users. The purpose of the National Partnership is to develop the scientific basis for effective protection, restoration, use, and management of the nation's biological resources.
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From page 32... ...
All will need to interact closely with the NBS and will be involved with the National Partnership as users or participants. · National Biological Survey.
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From page 33... ...
The mesa tops beyond a quarter of a mile on either side of the canyons can be classified as potential foraging habitat. Geologic Habitat of the California Desert Tortoise To comply with the Endangered Species Act, Department of Defense officials issued a contract to a consulting firm to determine the popula BOX Ifs: Three Examples of the Importance of Geological Information
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From page 34... ...
1, 1993~. Geologic Habitat of the Red Hills Salamander The Red Hills salamander (Phaeograr~thus hubrichti)
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From page 35... ...
The Red Hills salamander is found predominantly in the Tallahatta Formation, which consists of claystone, gray thin-bedded siltstone, and various yellowish gray sands and clays. When the species is observed in the Hatchetigbee Formation, outcroppings of the Tallahatta occur in close proximity.
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From page 36... ...
An examination of EMAP is being conducted by another NBC committee which has issued an interim report (NBC, 19921. In addition, the Department of Defense manages extensive land holdings through all four of the uniformed services, and each carries out activities pertinent to the National Biological Survey, pursuant to compliance with federal, state, and local laws and regulations and in connection with the Tong-term management of their lands.
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From page 37... ...
State natural heritage data centers, coordinated nationally by The Nature Conservancy, exist in every state, although the organizational placement of the program varies from state to state. This network provides detailed information on endangered, threatened, and selected rare species, and an ecologically based inventory of areas of special importance are found in the state databases.
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From page 38... ...
It hosts the Biological Survey Unit staff of FWS, and the National Marine Fisheries Service taxonomy groups, and systematists at USDA. The National Museum of Natural History houses extensive collections of organisms from the United States.
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From page 39... ...
They are also the chief source of training in the scientific disciplines and methods that are crucial to an effective National Partnership. · NonQovemment organizations.
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From page 40... ...
CARICOMP (the Caribbean Coastal Marine Productivity Program) is an international cooperative network of 20 marine laboratories in and near the Caribbean basin dedicated to monitoring the status of coral reefs and associated environments throughout the region.
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From page 42... ...
In addition, special cooperation of the biological surveys of Canada and Mexico and the specialists resident there and in other areas next to United States holdings such as Russia for the Arctic Sea Region, other Caribbean basin and Central American nations for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and the nations of the South Pacific for the U.S. possessions and trust territories there are of special importance.
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From page 43... ...
FOR ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED BY THE NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP FOR BIOLOGICAL SURVEY Major policy issues that can be addressed with the formation of the National Partnership are reviewed on the following pages of this chapter. Dealing with eacn or Hem e~;~v:;~y I better, more consistent, and more readily available scientific information about the organisms and ecological systems that occur within our national boundaries.
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From page 44... ...
It is also important to understand the biological impact of human activities, such as the expansion of metropolitan areas and the extraction of nonrenewable resources. With more complete information, optimum harvest levels and methods can be established on a sound scienhf
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From page 45... ...
Maintenance of Essential Ecological Services Natural environmental processes purify water, maintain air quality, regulate hydrological cycles and flooding, and buffer the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Those ecological services can be replaced by technology only in part and only at great economic and social costs.
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From page 46... ...
If management decisions are based on detailed information for only a few highly visible species, then costly and irreversible mistakes that adversely affect the production of ecological goods and services are likely to occur. Mainmining the Aesthetic Quality of life In a world populated only by people and selected species of plants and animals that survive in degraded or developed environments, not only would goods and services from our biological resources be reduced, but the aesthetic experiences now provided by them would be drastically impoverished.
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From page 47... ...
To anticipate the nature and intensity of ecological changes that might be induced by climate change, information is needed on how ranges of species shifted in response to past climate change, the extent to which the species compositions of communities changed, and which species became extinct during times of rapid climate LlV1L~ CLIME ~- ~-~- An'- ~-~ ¢~ alteration. Information is also needed on the effects of increased atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases on productivity, plant competition, and vulnerability of plants to pests and pathogens.
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From page 48... ...
In general, "biodiversity prospecting," which depends on an organized and readily retrievable body of information about organisms, is a rapidly developing field that will benefit greatly from the operations of the National Partnership (for a recent review, see Reid et al., 19931. Restoring De~aded Environments Many environments have been seriously degraded by human activities.
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From page 49... ...
Regardless of the structure, several general principles should guide the organization and management of all the work of the NPBS, and especially that of the National Biological Survey, if it is to play the leadership role recommended by this committee. Ability to Contluct Credible Science The work of participants in the National Partnership must be scientifically credible if its information is to be used widely and with assurance in decision-making and in developing a stronger information base for the management of biological resources.
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From page 50... ...
This new mode! explicitly recognizes that the National Partnership will provide a framework for organizing high-priority research in an integrated fashion across traditional disciplines.
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From page 51... ...
Because the geographic distribution of many species extends beyond our borders, strong links must be established with the biological surveys of Canada, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean basin. The scientific, management, and conservation expertise of other bordering nations, such as Russia (for the area surrounding the Arctic Ocean in particular)
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From page 52... ...
Assessing the current status of knowledge, identifying the most serious deficiencies, and determining how best to gather information that will be of maximum use in guiding further activities should be a central goal of the National Partnership. Because of the many uncertainties and gaps in our current understanding, the work of the Partnership needs to be planned to reduce major uncertainties rapidly and to modify priorities and permit users to change management strategies easily in response to what is learned (Holling, 1978; Walters, 19861.
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From page 53... ...
As a leader and catalyst for the National Partnership, the NBS especially will need to find various ways to make information available to many users and for many different uses. BFNEFITS OF THE NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP FOR BIOLOGICAL SURVEY This brief overview has indicated how information about the nation's biological resources- to the extent that it is relatively complete, up to date, scientifically accurate, and readily available can be used to benefit the nation.
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From page 54... ...
An effective National Partnership for Biological Survey would Provide a better and more efficient information base from which to make planning and operational decisions, thereby strengthening the quality of such decisions and improving the management of biological resources. The NPBS will identify, develop, and coordinate biological information from many sources, making these sources readily available to decision-makers.
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From page 55... ...
The purpose of the National Partnership is to develop the scientific basis for effective management, use, and conservation of the nation's biological resources. Prerequisites for accomplishing that purpose are to understand the location, status, and trends of the resources; to comprehend their features better; and to assess how human activities and natural processes cause changes in them.
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From page 56... ...
These problems can be reduced both in number and degree of confrontation with the kind of common, extensive, scientifically credible information base that the National Partnership will develop. Mike LIMITS TO THE NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP FOR BIOLOGICAL SURVEY The National Partnership for Biological Survey will serve the nation well as it grapples with increasingly contentious and challenging issues in protecting, restoring, and managing its biological resources.
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From page 57... ...
There is a risk that the label National Partnership For Biological Survey would simply be applied to existing science programs in the federal government and elsewhere. But the proposed NPBS has a very specific focus on knowing species diversity and the distribution of biological resources, understanding the patterns and processes that determine their locations and dynamics, measuring the status and trends of these resources, assessing economic and biological effects of alternative land-use decisions, and providing this information to users who must make decisions about the protection, restoration, and management of these resources.
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