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Archive - August 2009

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Reflection and Evaluation

Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 11:06:39 AM

Many of the presentations asked, “How are we doing?” Several gave accounts of successes and lessons learned.  Reflection and evaluation is part of what I’ve been doing in the past year regarding our rare plant reintroductions.  It’s what my presentation was about – a review of the reintroductions we have done, what factors have contributed to success, and how these relate to the possible need to move plants in the face of climate change. 

There is a nice synergy that happens at meetings, where I can talk to others doing work like my own and learn from their experiences or commiserate about common concerns.  And it is always inspiring to be in the presence of so many hard working, dedicated practitioners, to know that I am part of a global community working to conserve the earth’s beauty.  I loved the presentation by William Jordan III, who reminded us that it is important to practice ecocentric restoration – a practice that is not about us humans, but is about appreciating nature for its own sake. 

Where better place to appreciate the beauty of nature than this amazing Australia! 

Joyce


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Fairchild Gets Recognized

Mon, Aug 24, 2009 at 11:05:35 AM

Now in Perth for the Society of Ecological Restoration Meetings, I’m having a chance to re-connect with old & new conservation colleagues.  There was a plenary session all day, which began with a welcome to country – a review of the conservation/ restoration arena in Australia.  This was followed by a presentation by David Claudie, Kaanju Traditional Owner of the Chuulangun Aboriginal Corporation.  He explained the structure of indigenous governance and land management on Kuuku I’yu and Aboriginal people’s connection to the land, its flora & fauna.  Since 2000, it has become a tradition to acknowledge the Aboriginal people in formal presentations.  This is part of the healing of the country from its tragic past. As would become a theme in the meeting, restoration is also a healing way.  

It was a very rich day with many thought-provoking presentations. There is a successful project that has reconnected fragments in southwestern Australia called Gondwana Link.  It gave me hope for the Connect to Protect Network!   This is such a beautiful and diverse country that it is heartening to see a grassroots effort take off so successfully. 

Fairchild friends will be happy to know that we received some recognition in a presentation by Steve Hopper, who pointed out that Fairchild is one of the few botanical gardens (7% of those in a survey) with a scientist doing restoration ecology.  I was pleasantly surprised to see Fairchild’s name large on the screen.  Steve Hopper stressed that botanical gardens have botanical expertise and will serve a large role to provide plant materials needed for restoration.  It’s good to know that Fairchild is ahead of this curve and is one of the leaders among botanical gardens. 

Joyce


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Kangaroos

Sat, Aug 22, 2009 at 01:23:40 PM

Mira & I flew in late late on Friday night to Perth, then rented a car to drive south of here.  Perth resembles San Diego a bit and the area south resembles the wine country - sort of - except there are huge forests of eucalyptus trees with parrots, parakeets and kangaroos.  We went wandering south to see those big forests.  We found ourselves outside of a town called Nannup. Since the sun would be setting soon, I decided to try to see if we could stay at some cottages near a river.  The road wound south 8 km, turned to a dirt track, and when we got to the place it was booked.  Drat!  It was a lovely place and I heard my first kookaburra of the trip there. The lady was very kind and forewarned me to take care as I drove toward Augusta. We headed back up to the main road in our rented Prius - that hybrid so many people rave about.  The sun was sinking now.  Ahead of us about 100 yds, three small grey kangaroos crossed the road.  Boing, boing, boing.  Boing, boing, boing. Boing, boing, boing.   Very cute.   

When we got to the main road we headed east toward Augusta.  In this part of Australia, when you get outside of a city, which we were, it's dark.  Really dark.  A dark that will let you see the Milky Way clearly.  A dark that gets those lines on the road pretty mesmerizing.   We'd gone about 30 minutes east when I saw a large kangaroo hop into the right lane.  Then everything went into slow motion.    I put on the break ....1..... 2.... 3.... 4.... the kangaroo hopped into my lane..........5....6..............the kangaroo was not moving ......7....8..........the car was not stopping….9.....10.....I breaked hard. The Prius finally stopped throwing everything in the back seat forward.  The kangaroo was 10 ft in front of us, lit up in the head lights - taller than the car and nearly as wide....11....12....13.....14....It heaved its big self off the road.  Galumph, ........galumph,......... galumph.... Stunned, heart racing, we sat there in the road.  It took us awhile to breathe.  It gave a new perspective on being careful while driving! 

 

Joyce


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Random and Surprising Snippets From Talks

Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 01:12:27 PM

I gave my oral presentation today about our introduction of crenulate leadplant to suitable habitat outside of its known historic range.  The talk went well, but I was asked perhaps the most difficult question related to any plant introduction, “How will this plant affect other members of the community?”  This is one of the biggest criticisms of any attempts to move plants for conservation – that we do not know how they will behave in novel habitats.  The answer was that I didn’t know, but rare plants struggle so much to establish any seedlings that it is unlikely that they will cause problems. 

Coming to this international meeting with so many presentations about geospatial models put our work into a new context for me.  I was able to see that our fine scale, detailed studies about what rare plants require to become established is useful for models predicting impacts of climate change. 

Random and Surprising snippets from talks….the more dismal the projection about climate change the less stringent the mitigation that was defined.  It was as if the psychology of the problem of climate change is more palatable, more within the grasp of our imagination, if the potential increase in temperature is small.  When it is predicted to be too large, it becomes too hard to imagine. 

…..Australians are the only nationals who do not feed wildlife in their backyards…

…..Sleepy lizards may move only 10 steps during their relatively inactive season (summer – winter)…and even though they are monogamous, female sleepy lizards will leave males with too many ticks.  Who could blame her?

.... Exotic grasses in dunes of New Zealand actually support greater beetle and lizard assemblages than dunes with only native vegetation.  Hmmmm.

Joyce


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Limitations and Connections

Thu, Aug 20, 2009 at 03:57:27 AM

Today I saw a thought-provoking talk about the efficacy of restoration projects.  Margaret Palmer recounted that restoration projects have increased significantly in the last 20 yrs in the U.S. In her review of published studies, she examined whether stream restoration projects were actually improving biodiversity and found that in the majority of cases they had not.  Similarly, wetland restoration projects had not improved biodiversity.  This led Palmer to ask what was the problem with these restoration projects?  She concluded that restoring streams and wetlands are complex problems that may require a different approach than that which is used predominantly today.  She cited a case study of the Chesapeake Bay where lowering nitrogen was identified as a major concern.  Instead of restoring the stream to an earlier reference condition, a completely new design was implemented to accomplish lower nitrogen runoff to the bay.  The novel design with a series of holding ponds did reduce nitrogen, but at a high cost.  She estimated that 1 kg of nitrogen removed from the system cost $14,000.  Yet there was 300 million kg of N input to the system.   She noted that asking people to stop fertilizing their lawns would probably go farther to reduce nitrogen in the stream for less money.  She noted that the idea that restoration can fix all problems may actually not be true.  We may have to accept the limitations of our scientific knowledge and our ability to restore degraded systems, plus each person may have to increase individual conservation efforts. 

This talk tied back to another plenary talk by Peter Vitousek, who showed an example of Ju et al (2009) which demonstrated that farmers in their study were applying twice the amount of nitrogen to their crops than was required.  He rightly pointed out that demonstrating this was one thing, which changing the behavior and beliefs of the farmers was yet another. 

These two talks link to some of my current interests in connecting fragments of pine rocklands. The concerns that Palmer and Vitousek raise about changing human attitudes are also relevant to our local Miami project.  Can we change the perception that beauty isn’t always a green lawn? 

Here in Brisbane there is an interesting architectural tool for creating connectivity right in the busy district near the convention center and our hotel.  Below is a beautiful picture of the lovely South Bank boardwalk area.  I like the fluid architecture of this walkway and the way it successfully creates a friendly ambience connecting the South Bank. 

 

Tonight we head to a discussion about carbon emissions trading.  It should be a stimulating discussion about the commercial value of nature and whether this scheme will reverse negative trends in biodiversity loss. 

Ta, 

Joyce


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Maintaining Optimism

Wed, Aug 19, 2009 at 07:29:03 AM

There are times when it is difficult to maintain optimism in the conservation business.  Today I spent the morning hearing many accounts of how climate change will shrink endangered habitats and expand the distribution of weedy species.  The researchers focused on the accuracy of their models.  Truly the models are only as good or accurate as the data that feeds them. It was interesting to see how pollen and fossil records have helped build accounts of past refugia during ice ages and it was a good reminder that the earth has undergone dramatic changes in the past.  For modeling the change in rare habitat with climate change, I was encouraged to see one researcher incorporate fine scale topographic and soil information into her model, along with the customary average annual temperature, average low temperature and precipitation information.  She argued that temperature differences between south and north facing slopes are as high or greater than some of the climate change models predict for increased temperatures in the next 50 to 100 years.  Still, sitting in the audience, even knowing the limitations of the data that is available and the accuracy of the models, the shrinking green areas on the beautifully rendered maps was disheartening, even for an optimist like me. 

So moving to another session, I heard accounts of adaptive management and adaptive collaboration for managing biodiversity.  I learned about some of the challenges facing Kakadu National Park and heard a critique of the way management objectives were written for the park.  Good lessons from this experience applied to anywhere in the world - remember to write quantifiable objectives and monitor so that you know how effective your management is.

Perhaps most encouraging was the tale of how R. Hill and her colleagues are achieving endangered species’ protection in the wet tropics through adaptive collaboration.  The basis of the strategy is the belief in deliberative democracy, whereby she and her colleagues empower individuals and institutions, employ scientific expertise through ongoing systematic conservation assessments, and secure ground action through community empowerment.   This talk reminded me of the critical role the public plays in conservation work and was truly an inspiration.

Therein lies the secret of maintaining optimism…listen carefully, weep if you must, shift to a bright spot, and find a colleague or an idea that is inspiring.  We all need to do that some days.

Joyce


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INTECOL and the Role of Ecologists

Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 08:32:39 PM

G’day from Brisbane!  I’ve come here to attend and give an oral presentation at the 10th International Congress of Ecology or INTECOL.  The theme of this conference is Ecology in a Changing Climate: Two hemispheres – One world.  Hundreds of ecologists from 60 different countries are in attendance giving oral and poster presentations throughout the week.  As the conference theme suggests, many of the presentations are about climate change, but there are also general ecology talks about everything from Tasmanian devils, rhinos, and elephants to ecosystem resilience, riparian health, and conservation.  Every 15 minutes there are 9 oral presentations from which you can choose, plus a large number of posters.  Thankfully the venue at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Hall is not only beautiful and spacious, but it is arranged so that it is easy to move between rooms to catch talks in different sessions. 

One pervasive theme throughout the first day was one of the role ecologists can play to explain processes, inform policy makers, and shape decision-making strategies at this critical time in our world.  Mira & I attended a public lecture and panel debate last night about Urban Ecology, sustainable planning and development and the responsibility of ecologists in securing our future. After reading the latter, Mira turned to me and said, “Get with it, mom!”  So, in that spirit, I’m getting with it, cramming as much information into my brain as possible while at this conference.

Some of the most thought-provoking talks I’ve attended thus far are summarized below.  When comparing the native and invasive ranges in Australia of 26 species, there was not complete niche overlap.  Some of the invasive species expanded into completely different habitat types.  This research fuels the argument that it is not possible to predict what will or will not become invasive.

As in South Florida, other parts of the world are challenged to preserve native flora and fauna within urban settings.  Cape Town, South Africa has a particularly challenging task as it has nine endemic ecosystems within the city limits.  Although the mountainous areas have been well protected, the lowlands are at high risk.  Because some of the plants growing in these low areas are found nowhere else in the world, there is a push to have biodiversity protection integrated into city plans.  Those in the audience from Australia and other parts of the world sympathized that good urban plans often are not implemented.  One of the speakers implored the audience to form small vocal groups to let politicians hear their views.  

The Urban Ecology debate and panel reminded us that although ecologists have often avoided doing studies in areas that would be impacted by people, there is a great need to understand urban ecology.  There are heaps of people out there and many of our small fragmented systems struggle in urban settings.  Just ask Sam Wright how exasperating urban ecology can be sometimes!   

Besides the conference being in Australia is like being in a toy store for this ecologist.  It’s a treat to see so many new plants and animals!

Joyce


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Perspectives on Endangered and Invasive Species

Sat, Aug 08, 2009 at 04:31:04 PM

Key Tree Cactus

At the Ecological Society of America Meeting, I spoke about our research on the Key Tree Cactus in a session about Climate Change and Plants.  As climate change is a rising concern, there were many studies underway to test experimentally the impact of elevated carbon dioxide on plant growth.  In contrast, our work on the Key Tree Cactus documented the decline of this species in the lower Florida Keys.  Increased soil salinity was associated with plants that have died and with populations that have had the greatest mortality suggesting that recent intense hurricane activity and sea level rise have impacted this species.  Thus, this population decline is a consequence of climate change via the indirect impacts of sea level rise. 

At the end of my session, a young Chinese woman approached me to discuss some of the challenges with rare plant conservation.  She was pretty perplexed about why I would care about this species.  She asked me what function the species had in the ecosystem and why effort should be made to prevent the species’ extinction rather than concentrate resources on more common commercially viable species.  She raised a concern that many have expressed and it is really an issue of values and philosophy.  I had to confess to her that I don't think about endangered plants in that way; I’m not concerned about what value they have to me personally other than how they contribute to the diverse and marvelous world in which we live.  I care about preserving them for the sake of biodiversity.  The work we are doing does have broader applications beyond the single species though.  As many species are at risk from sea level rise, what we learn from one species can be applied to others.  

Attending my session was former colleague Ann Frances.  She is doing fine.  She finished her doctorate & is now seeking employment in the Washington DC area. 

Another big topic at the meetings was invasive species.  Many talks related to understanding how invasive species are so successful and spread.  One of the concerns raised about moving any plant species to a new location is that we don’t know whether it will become invasive.  Some have raised this concern about relocations of rare species also.  Many of us working with rare species would love to see the day when the species even stays on even ground – holding its own or increasing in number rather than plummeting, so we have not worried about our species becoming invasive.  Because this concern has been raised, Dr. Hong Liu is looking into evidence of this occurrence.  Her work is ongoing. 

I’m heading to Australia on Monday and it will take two days.  Will be doing as much in chair T’ai Chi as possible!  

More later, 

Joyce

 


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Never Give Up

Wed, Aug 05, 2009 at 04:27:02 PM

It’s been good to see several friends here at the Ecological Society of America Meeting.  I was particularly surprised to see Yasemin, a Turkish woman, who attended a CPC workshop in which I taught about 3 years ago.  She has just finished her doctorate and is here at the meetings to look out for grant and job opportunities.  When she talks about her academic life and the state of plant conservation in Turkey, it is clear that conservation science is just beginning in the country.  There are no botanical gardens in the country and there is little academic infrastructure supporting training for the many jobs that are required to run a botanical garden.  Yasemin says if you are female, married and a mother as she is, you pretty much are considered not viable for professional jobs. Because many of the current academic positions in botany are already filled she may have to be very creative to continue her scientific career.  Since it took her 8 years to get her doctorate, she's not a quitter.  I suspect her determination will carry her through.  Over dinner, Tom Grant (former conservation officer at Denver Botanic Garden) & I gave her some ideas for grant sources.  Perhaps they will come through for her.  Meeting her again made me realize the value of the CPC Applied Plant Conservation Workshop.  There Yasemin met many plant conservation mentors currently doing plant conservation research.  We all hope that we helped give her the tools she needs to create a great position from scratch.


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Assisted Migration

Tue, Aug 04, 2009 at 01:46:26 PM

Great things about attending a scientific conference are the quick condensed information exchange and the conversations that ensue with colleagues.  Often I can learn things very quickly in this context, as I may attend 20-25 oral presentations each day.  It’s a bit of a brain fry, but well worth it. From these presentations stimulating discussions arise.

At lunch, I had an inspiring conversation with colleagues Pedro Quintana-Ascencio, Gordon Fox and Jessica Gurevich – all top notch mathematical modelers. I asked them about the plant conservation dilemma of moving plants – or what is sometimes called assisted migration.  As this is one of the topics for our CPC fall reintroduction symposium and book, I’m interested to gather as many ideas about this topic as possible.  A thought-provoking discussion ensued.


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Me, the Ecological Society and the Holy Ghost

Sun, Aug 02, 2009 at 01:44:29 PM

 

Albuquerque – The excitement is palpable as the Ecological Society of America meetings open.  I’m looking forward to listening to stimulating talks and reconnecting with friends.  While here, I took the opportunity to visit an old endangered species friend of mine, the Holy Ghost Ipomopsis.  Believed to be a newly arisen species, this species is known from a single canyon in northern New Mexico.  I tracked its population there for about 12 years, often with my daughter Mira in tow.  I can’t see those beautiful hot pink flowers without thinking of my field assistant rolling up measuring tapes by the side of the road.  

 

 

 

I had a special treat and captured a photo of a flower visitor!  Since reproduction is one of this species’ challenges it was good to see potential pollination happening.  The canyon is a gorgeous place, rich with wildflowers like the photo of this purple aster.  The Pecos River provides the sound track for the experience. 

Skies are crisp clear blue in the morning and give way to thunderstorms in the afternoon. 

 


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