A Biological Survey for the Nation (1994) / Chapter Skim
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2 SCIENCE IN THE SERVICE OF BIOLOGICAL SURVEY
2 SCIENCE IN THE SERVICE OF BIOLOGICAL SURVEY
Pages 59-92
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From page 59... ...
The body of information that will be developed by the National Partnership for Biological Survey will help the country to meet many objectives and address such issues as the preservation of biota, the maintenance of ecosystems, and the sustainable use of biological resources. One of the most important uses of the scientific information gathered by the National Partnership will be to assist decisionmakers in addressing existing biological resource issues and anticipating future ones.
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From page 60... ...
First, priorities must be set for much research on biological resources in a new way that is more directly responsive to our nation's needs for better conservation, management, and sustainable use of those resources. Second, inventory, monitoring, and other research activities must expand beyond traditional, disciplinary lines to encompass well-designed, large-scale, interdisciplinary research initiatives on selected taxa, ecosystems, and geographic regions.
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From page 61... ...
Priorities for the National Partnership should be based on the degree to which proposed research advances one or more of the following goals: · Understanding the status and trends of biological resources that are changing rapidly, are rare, or are threatened by such factors as metropolitan growth, renewable land use, nonrenewable-resource extraction, and natural changes in the environment. · Learning about biological resources that are identified as important by legal mandates or for economic reasons, such as their status as possible sources of new products.
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From page 62... ...
1.~) , along with the department's other responsibilities with regard to the nation's biota, make NBS especially important in providing key elements of a program to assess the status and trends of biological resources.
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From page 63... ...
The recommendations below provide a general framework to help members of the National Partnership to develop their research programs, but more detailed examination, based ~ rim , on this framework, of research needs and priorities of key participants, including the NBS, could be usefully performed by an independent group of experts. SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON THE STATUS OF BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES If the National Partnership for Biological Survey is to realize its purpose, it must greatly strengthen our understanding of the distributions and the factors that govern the distributions of species and higher taxa, communities, ecosystems, landscapes, and marine realms of the United States.
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From page 64... ...
· To determine the types arm locations of communities and ecosystems in the United States. Management strategies that deal explicitly with ecological units require accurate distributional information for these units.
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From page 65... ...
Much of the current decrease in biological diversity in the United States is concentrated at the rapidly expanding urban-rural interface. Research is needed on the effects of suburbanization on biological resources, and on ways of reducing or mitigating these effects, and on the levels at which settlement can coexist with viable ecosystems.
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From page 66... ...
BOX 2.~: Environmental Resources Information Network: Australia's Response to the Need for Access to National Biological Survey Data
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From page 67... ...
By bringing together the expert knowledge of its biologists, the information held in its rich museum collections, and the innovative and focused use of data-management, analytical, and mapping computer programs, the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service has assembled a powerful and far-reaching tool for understanding and managing its natural resources.
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From page 68... ...
In all but a few well-known taxa, identifications of species must be based on voucher specimens, without which frequent misidentifications are certain to be made. Faulty management decisions are likely to result from incorrect identifications.
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From page 69... ...
Even for such well-known groups as plants and vertebrates, there are geographic gaps in our knowIedge, and the available records might not have been gathered recently enough to indicate the present status of individual species. Precise knowledge of what materials and data already exist will facilitate the timely provision of information to those who need it and will help scientists to identify gaps that warrant research.
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From page 70... ...
The National Partnership should go beyond an inventory of information and collections and take decisive and forward-Iooking actions to fill important gaps already known to exist in our knowIedge of U.S. biological resources.
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From page 71... ...
should extend its research efforts to include noncommercial marine fishes and increase its survey, inventory, and taxonomic research efforts on marine invertebrate groups. The National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, USDA, and the Department of Energy should conduct or sponsor research on mosquitoes, locks, and other vectors of disease and on potential sources of medicines, t~StOCKS, OlOmaterials, and foods.
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From page 72... ...
In a more general sense, the living collections of botanical gardens, zoos, and insectaria are comparable, and such groups as the Center for Plant Conservation, which assembles genetically adequate samples of the threatened and endangered plants of the United States, ought also to be encouraged and supported. Why Do Speaes Our Where They Do, Surveys of species distribution, abundance, and population
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From page 73... ...
The National Biological Survey should perform research on ecological requirements for taxa from ecosystems of current national concern (e.g., Pacific Northwest old-growth forests or coastal estuaries) and from diverse, biologically significant ecosystems (e.g., native forests of Hawaii or unique areas within our national parks, such as the Great Smoky Mountains National Park)
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From page 74... ...
Because informed management decisions depend on detailed understanding of the biological habits and requirements of species, it is important to identify species relevant to environmental issues of high priority and initiate the process of accumulating fundamental knowledge about them. For example, the population biology of threatened and endangered species is obviously a subject of high interest (Falk and Holsinger, 19911.
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From page 75... ...
There are currently no broadly accepted classification schemes for such ecological units above the {eve} of species, and no single classification system is likely to serve all management purposes. Community classifications for terrestrial, fresh-water, and marine habitats have been established by The Nature Conservancy and have proved useful for setting conservation priorities.
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From page 76... ...
A hierarchical structure of such classification systems is likely to prove useful, even though effective conservation and management strategies would normally deal with subordinate levels within the system (Bourgeon, 1988; Orians, 1993~. may Are Ecosystems Founcl Where They Are, Recommendation 2-7: The National Partnership, with the direct involvement of NBS, should stanulate research to understand and develop a predictive theory of keystone linkages and keystone species and should work toward developing predictive models that facilitate sustainable management of communities and ecosystems in the United States.
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From page 77... ...
Individual species have specific ranges of tolerance of physical environmental conditions, but the actual range of environments occupied is reduced by interactions with other species. Competition, predation, and parasitism happen only among organisms living in the same area, but the kinds and numbers of individuals available to interact depend on regional-scale processes.
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From page 78... ...
It might not be practical to treat all ElSs this way, at least initially; but specific case studies can be chosen to represent common classes of environmental problems for which knowledge of the success or failure of specific management decisions could inform future approaches. Recommendation 2-9: The NABS should identify target areas for restoration.
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From page 79... ...
Within that class, restoration priorities can be based on potentially valuable species, recreational value of the ecosystem, or other criteria. A similar inventory could prove useful for targeting restoration efforts in other types of ecosystems.
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From page 80... ...
Examples include the suspected reduction of North American songbirds due to tropical and temperate habitat destruction and fragmentation effects, including lower productivity and survival (Terborgh, 19891; decreases in salmon due to migration restrictions, nonpoint pollution, and sedimentation; and decreases in aquatic species due to point and nonpoint pollution, sedimentation, introduction of exotic species, changes in hydrology, and loss of wetlands (Thorpe-Miller and Catena, 19911. Most such examples involve either outright habitat destruction that interrupts the movements, breeding, or seasonal survival of widely ranging species; increases in the natural flux of materials from terrestrial "source" to aquatic "sink" habitats; or unexpected impacts on one habitat as a direct result of modifications made in another.
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From page 81... ...
I) DEWING MENDS IN BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES The purpose of studying trends is to identify biological resources that are changing in quality and quantity and to determine why they are changing.
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From page 82... ...
For example, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District share responsibilities for BOx 2.3: South Florida and the Everglades
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From page 83... ...
For example, cooperative studies involving the National Biological Survey, the Corps of Engineers, the South Florida Water Management District, and universities could use existing water-control structures to determine how Everglades ecological communities respond to different water-supply regimes. Such knowledge is essential for effective restoration and sustainable use of this great wetland.
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From page 84... ...
Data Useful for Determining Trends and Their Causes Trends in the status of biological resources cannot be identified or understood unless a solid database on the identification and distribution of the resources is available. Collections and related literature are a primary source of information on the past status of
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From page 85... ...
Those long-term records reveal that the ranges of species shifted at varying rates and that species assemblages differed strikingly from any found today. If climate change occurs, whether naturally or as a result of human activity, information about ecological responses to past change will be useful for managing ecological communities in the face of future shifts.
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From page 86... ...
Data on Current Trends Because the dominant organisms in many ecological systems, such as trees and corals, are long-lived, many important changes in ecological communities and ecosystems are too slow for us to sense directly Jackson, 19921. Our abilities to interpret slowly operating cause-effect relationships are even poorer.
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From page 87... ...
much work needs to be done to determine which attributes ~ .. are most usetutty measured in particular ecological communities and for particular management purposes (Kerr, 19874.
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From page 88... ...
Thus, the Pacific is a priority for preserving biodiversity, with its rapidly changing political and economic situations and time is ri'uning out. These island habitats and their associated marine communities can be dealt with effectively only through well-coordinated field research focusing on species inventones, adequate ecological information, and especially the role of alien-species invasion in island communities.
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From page 89... ...
Cooperation among a number of different entities including several departments of the state government; conservation groups led by The Nature Conservancy; the University of Hawaii's Center for Conservation, Research, and Training and other units; botanical gardens linked by the Center for Plant Conservation; and the Bishop Museum appears to offer a promising direction for developing appropriate strategies for the management of biodiversity in Hawaii in the context of regional development. The recent adoption of a State Natural Area Partnership program, which will provide 2:1 matching funds to private landowners for long-term stewardship on their lands, is of special importance nationally and would doubtless work well in other areas lathe development of a State Secretariat for Conservation, housed at and partly fielded by the University of Hawaii, is another promising effort to contribute to the integration of conservation efforts in Hawaii.
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From page 90... ...
To develop this cross-scale and multidisciplinary information, the NBS should work with other members of the National Partnership to choose a series of pilot projects targeted at areas that are changing rapidly because of different types of human activity (for example, metropolitan development, agricultural expansion, and resource extraction) ; areas of high biodiversity; areas in which diverse fresh-water, terrestrial, and marine ecosystems interact closely; en c!
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From page 91... ...
The projects should also involve other disciplines as appropriate, such as geology, hydrology, atmospheric science, and the social sciences. If the sites of the studies are well chosen, the projects can be especially useful in producing the kinds of scientific information that is needed to manage ecosystems effectively.
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