Suchergebnisse

The EU Habitats Directive requires Member States to assess the potential and desirability of reintroducing species which have been lost, and to look at other Member States' experiences to support such assessments. In light of these requirements, the Lynx UK Trust is proposing to undertake a trial reintroduction programme of Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) at several potential sites in the UK. As part of the preparation for any translocation or reintroduction programme, guidelines prepared by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) state that an assessment of the anticipated costs and benefits of a reintroduction should be incorporated into planning for such programmes. On the basis of these guidelines, AECOM have been asked by the Lynx UK Trust to undertake an impartial and independent analysis of the potential economic costs and benefits to the proposed lynx reintroduction scheme in the UK based on a combination of modelling and data collected from European lynx studies. The analysis draws on the guidance for undertaking cost-benefit analysis set out by the UK government. In particular, it follows the framework set out in The Green Book which states that a cost-benefit analysis should quantify as many of the costs and benefits of a proposal in monetary terms as is feasible, including impacts for which the market does not provide a satisfactory measure of economic value. The Green Book further states that in the early stages of identifying and appraising a proposal only summary data is normally required, while at the later stages of an assessment data should be refined to become more specific and accurate. The analysis in this report is therefore proportionate to the resources involved, outcomes at stake, and the time available. As such, the results should be taken as an initial indicative estimate of the potential costs and benefits of the lynx reintroduction scheme. This approach should provide a proportionate study for the purposes of licensing a trial of the effects of the reintroduction of lynx to the UK, with further studies of the economic impact being undertaken if the trial is adopted.

This paper presents an ecological and socioeconomic case for the reintroduction of the Gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) to the North Atlantic from the harvestable surplus in the eastern north Pacific. The Gray whale population in the eastern North Atlantic was hunted to extinction in the 17th century. A similar fate almost befell the eastern north Pacific population; however this population has demonstrated a dramatic recovery. European and UK legislation state objectives to 'protect and conserve the ecosystems and the biological diversity of the maritime area, and to restore, where practicable, marine areas which have been adversely affected'. In addition, this reintroduction has broad public support. In a questionnaire based survey 90% of respondents were in favour of Gray whale restoration, compared to only 56% for both grey wolf and brown bear. Successful reestablishment will contribute to the redevelopment of deprived coastal communities through sustainable ecotourism; 81% of respondents would be willing to take a trip to see Gray whales while 53% would add an extra day to their trip. Whilst the proposal appears controversial, there are fewer potential negative impacts of this reintroduction than would be associated with the reintroduction of several terrestrial mammals.

The Pacific mid-coast region of British Columbia has a mild, hypermaritime climate that places its biological productivity in the range of tropical rainforests. The low elevation river valleys are characterized by rich alluvial soils, further enriched annually by upstream nutrients flooding over the stream banks of the floodplains and distributing rich silt to the roots of giant Sitka spruce and Western hemlock forests. Unique to Canada's rivers flowing into the Pacific (but not north into the Mackenzie River, for example) are the massive contributions of nutrients from the bodies of 5 species of anadromous salmonids. This flux of organic matter has long been recognized as essential to the production of young salmon but the additional fertility increment to riparian and upland forests is currently under intense investigation (Bilby et al. 1996, Cederholm et al. 1999, Willson et al. 1998). The crucial role of migratory salmon in supporting dense populations of grizzly bears has recently been demonstrated for a large sample of coastal bears in Alaska (Miller et al. 1997). A strong statistical correlation between the per cent of meat, mainly salmon, in the diet and bear density (Hilderbrand et al. 1999) confirmed earlier speculation by Miller et al. (1997) that Alaskan's most dense bear populations also had high salmon diets and were among the most dense on a worldwide basis. Grizzly or brown bears on the coast of British Columbia and Alaska are the same species as the grizzly bears of the Rocky Mountains. However they are much bigger and have higher population densities because of abundant salmon (Hilderbrand et al. 1999). Alaskan population densities vary from a maximum of 550 bears /1000 km2 in Katmai National Park where salmon are seasonally available to less than 5 bears /1000 km2 for mountain bears of the eastern Brooks Range on a marginal food base (Miller et al. 1997). Coastal Alaskan bears forage widely for fish. At Brooks River in Katmai National Park & Preserve bears feed on sockeye salmon starting in late June as soon as they enter rivers to spawn (Gilbert 1995). At this time, when the salmon are rich in fat, a fuel used to ascend rivers, build redds, mate and defend their nests against others, hundreds of bears have daily access to the fish. Bears feed on these salmon which have 50% of their caloric value in fat. From Katmai's Brooks falls bears migrate with the fish to their spawning beds and, later, back to the stream mouths where the dying fish are again consumed in prodigious numbers. The end result of this movement is a pattern of deposition of fish pieces and feces over the landscape. Studies of the fate of salmon carcasses in the state of Washington showed that 22 species of mammals and birds carried salmon pieces into the forest (Cederholm et al. 1989). The nitrogen in the fish parts and bear feces and urine is incorporated into plants and animals in the forest and in the streams thereby enriching the ecosystems there. Bears are one of the largest contributors because of the massive amount of material that they consume and the great distances that they move. Many of the Alaskan sites with the highest bear densities have become popular, and profitable, tourist destinations. More recently a bear viewing/eco-tourist industry has begun to develop in British Columbia. In March 1998 bear viewing policy and guidelines were presented in which the government expressed support for the use of bears for viewing. This study addresses the impacts of viewing on bears and presents recommendations for further research and the sustainable development of bear viewing in the province.

Recent legislative and policy changes to forestry and land-use decisions in British Columbia have resulted in considerable emphasis on economic values in decision making. Commercial grizzly bear viewing was examined to determine the potential for preserving high diversity old growth forest through the land-use planning process and to identify barriers to the success of these operations. A baseline economic survey of grizzly bear viewing operators was undertaken to assess the present impact using an input/output model (or National Accounting Standards). The design allowed for crosssectoral comparison and was compatible with land-use planning guidelines. A separate survey of participants was used to determine the importance of bear viewing to destination choice in order to apportion total vacation costs appropriately. Operators and industry experts were polled for factors affecting the success of bear viewing, and a follow-up survey ranked the compiled factors. Geographical attributes of existing bear viewing sites and the surrounding areas were compiled and compared with the BC government's GIS database to produce a map of potential viewing sites. Results provided information on a wide scope of viewing conditions and allowed for benchmarking best and worst-case economic scenarios. The economic impacts of the present industry were found to be relatively small, but can add significant value to low-elevation old-growth forest in regional planning. Commercial potential was found to be significantly underestimated in current tourism opportunities studies. A discussion of the barriers to success and concessions in a multi-stakeholder scenario is included.

The Pacific mid-coast region of British Columbia has a mild, hypermaritime climate that places its biological productivity in the range of tropical rainforests. The low elevation river valleys are characterized by rich alluvial soils, further enriched annually by upstream nutrients flooding over the stream banks of the floodplains and distributing rich silt to the roots of giant Sitka spruce and Western hemlock forests. Unique to Canada's rivers flowing into the Pacific (but not north into the Mackenzie River, for example) are the massive contributions of nutrients from the bodies of 5 species of anadromous salmonids. This flux of organic matter has long been recognized as essential to the production of young salmon but the additional fertility increment to riparian and upland forests is currently under intense investigation (Bilby et al. 1996; Cederholm et al. 1989; Willson et al. 1998). The role of migratory salmon in supporting dense populations of grizzly bears has recently been demonstrated for a large sample of coastal bears in Alaska (Miller et al 1997). A strong statistical correlation between the per cent of meat, mainly salmon, in the diet and bear density (Hilderbrand et al 1999) confirmed earlier speculation by Miller et al. (1997) that Alaskan's most dense bear populations also had high salmon diets and were among the most dense on a world-wide basis. Grizzly or brown bears on the coast of British Columbia and Alaska are the same species as the grizzly bears of the Rocky Mountains. However they are much bigger and have higher population densities because of abundant of salmon (Hilderbrand et al. 1999). Alaska population densities vary from a maximum of 550 bears /1000 sq. km in Katmai National Park where salmon are seasonally available to less than 5 for mountain bears of the eastern Brooks Range on a marginal food base (Miller et al. 1997). Coastal Alaskan bears forage widely for fish. At Brooks River in Katmai National Park & Preserve bears feed on sockeye salmon starting in late June as soon as they enter rivers to spawn. Hundreds of bears have daily access to salmon when the salmon are rich in fat, a fuel used to ascend rivers, build redds, mate and defend their nests against others. Bears feed on these fish which have 50% of their caloric value in fat. From Katmai's Brooks falls bears migrate with the fish to their spawning beds and, later, back to the stream mouths where the dying fish are again consumed in prodigious numbers. The end result of this movement is a pattern of deposition of fish pieces and feces over the landscape. Studies in the state of Washington of the fate of salmon carcasses showed that 22 species of mammals and birds carried salmon pieces into the forest (Cederholm and Houston 1992). The nitrogen in the fish parts and bear feces is incorporated into plants and animals in the forest and in the streams therefor enriching the ecosystems there. Bears are one of the largest contributors because of the massive amount of material that they consume and the great distances that they move. Many of the Alaskan sites with the highest bear densities have become popular, and profitable, tourist destinations. More recently a bear viewing/eco-tourist industry has begun to develop in British Columbia. In March 1998 bear viewing policy and guidelines were presented in which the government expressed support for the use of bears for tourism. This study addresses the impacts of viewing on bears and presents recommendations for further research and the sustainable development of bear viewing in the province.

Adaptation is essential for maximizing cell survival and for cell fitness in response to sudden changes in the environment. Several aspects of cell physiology change during adaptation. Major changes in gene expression are associated with cell exposure to environmental changes, and several aspects of mRNA biogenesis appear to be targeted by signaling pathways upon stress. Exhaustive reviews have been written regarding adaptation to stress and regulation of gene expression. In this review, using osmostress in yeast as a prototypical case study, we highlight those aspects of regulation of gene induction that are general to various environmental stresses as well as mechanistic aspects that are potentially conserved from yeast to mammals. ; The laboratory of F.P. and E.N. is supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (BFU2012-33503 and FEDER, BFU2014-52125-REDT and BFU2014-51672-REDC to F.P. and BFU2014-52333-P to E.N.), the Catalan Government (2014 SGR 599) and an ERC Advanced Grant (number 294294) from the EU seventh framework program (SYNCOM) to F.P. This project is supported by the Fundación Botín and by Banco Santander through its Santander Universities Global Division to F.P. F.P. and E.N. are recipients of an ICREA Acadèmia (Generalitat de Catalunya).