• Ecological Science Group Seeks Research Synthesis
  
• Fishing Threatens Top of Ocean Food Chain
  
• Buoys Could Provide Early Warning of Red Tides
  
• Drought Killing Endangered Sonoran Pronghorn
  
• Wildfire Kills Captive Mexican Wolves
  
• Hope for Rare Snowy Plovers in California
  
• New Desktop PC Called Environmentally Friendly
  

Ecological Science Group Seeks Research Synthesis

Focusing on such synthesis science will lead to a better understanding of complex environmental problems, and result in knowledge that serves science and society, according to the authors of a new NSF report, "Long-Term Ecological Research Program: Twenty-Year Review."

At the same time, "achievements of the LTER program in the past 20 years are impressive," the report states. The program's first decade was devoted to long term data collection and analysis in five core areas: primary production, nutrient flux, trophic structures, disturbances such as fires and hurricanes, and organic matter accumulation and decomposition.

In its second decade, the LTER program incorporated the advice of NSF's 10 year review report, and dealt with large scale and cross site ecological patterns and processes, as well as human influences on ecological systems.

"Twenty years of research at LTER sites have yielded major synthetic and theoretical advances in ecological knowledge, and have served society by informing solutions to environmental problems," write the authors of the 20 year review.

"This report comes at a critical time in the history of the LTER program, and will help guide the development of the program over the next 10 years," said Mary Clutter, NSF's assistant director for biological sciences. "The scientific vision in the report is clear, appropriate, and consistent with the current state of LTER science. The next 10 years should be the 'Decade of Synthesis'."

The LTER program has evolved from five sites with an annual budget of $1.2 million into a network of 24 ecologically diverse sites with a fiscal year 2002 budget of $17.8 million. The program now encompasses two urban sites, a network office, and some 1,100 scientists and students who generate about $44 million in LTER related research each year. Twenty-four nations now have associated International LTER (ILTER) programs.

In the decade ahead, the LTER enterprise will inhabit a new scientific landscape, according to the report.

"Technology is revolutionizing how research is done and enlarging the scope, scale and complexity of research that can be done," the report notes. "Policymakers, funding agencies, organizations, and the public increasingly are asking science to provide solutions to environmental issues and to be more accountable for public investments in research."

The report makes 27 recommendations about how the LTER program might best enter its third decade.

Among the recommendations are:

• The LTER program should adopt and make systemic what NSF has termed "21st century biology" - science that is multidisciplinary, multidimensional, scalable, information driven, predictive and model based, education oriented, virtual and global.

• Biological diversity should be designated a new core area or function for the LTER program at all or selected sites.

• The LTER program should partner with social scientists to increase understanding of the interrelationships and reciprocal impacts of natural ecosystems and human systems in order to inform environmental policy.

Henry Gholz, NSF program director for LTER, said the report "will be invaluable in focusing ecologists and the larger scientific community on the future of long term ecological and environmental science in the U.S."

Fishing Threatens Top of Ocean Food Chain

Though not targeted by the fishing industry, some ocean species often get caught by nets or lines used to catch tuna and other valuable fish, concludes the study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The study, presented today at the annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America in Tucson, points to the potential increased risks for these large, slow growing, slow to reproduce animals at the top of the food chain.

"It's the sharks, dolphins and billfishes that are hurt the most," said Jefferson Hinke, a University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate student and study group member.

Hinke, working under the auspices of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis in Santa Barbara, California, is part of a group that is developing computer models able to forecast the effects of fishing on major ocean ecosystems. The hope, he said, is to provide fishery managers with a set of tools that can be used to predict change in sensitive systems.

The models can help reveal "what happens when you fish off the top of the food chain," said James Kitchell, a UW-Madison professor of zoology. "You fish in different ways, you have different effects."

For example, populations of many commercially fished species are stable and viable, thanks in part to restrictions on undiscriminating fishing practices such as drift nets and fish aggregation devices, the report says. But any increase in industrial fishing could play havoc with both target and non-target animal populations, Hinke warned.

"In these systems, environmental variability tends to have little effect at the top of the food web," he said. "What's really important is the fishing."

In the Pacific, tuna populations - the intended and preferred catch of commercial fishing outfits from Japan, the U.S. Mexico and other Pacific nations - are generally in good shape, Hinke said. Because these fish tend to mature and reproduce at much earlier ages than the non-target species like sharks and dolphins, their populations are able to withstand fishing pressures.

However, increased fishing pressure could cause declines, particularly in the already heavily fished yellowfin tuna stocks. And more fishing could devastate non-target species.

"Yellowfin tuna have a life span of only five years," Hinke said. "They have really fast growth rates and they can begin to reproduce early in life. A shark, on the other hand, can live 20 or 30 years and may not reproduce until it reaches 10 years of age. Sharks also produce relatively few offspring as opposed to a tuna which will spawn sometimes every day for a year and produce millions and millions of eggs."

The UW-Madison models also are meant to forecast how fish populations of all kinds will respond to different fishing scenarios. The model suggests that increasing fishing pressure may cause as much as a 20 to 50 percent decline in populations of dolphins, sharks and billfishes like marlin, sailfish and swordfish.

"The models are part of the toolbox for managers, and they have proven to be effective," Hinke said. "We can model at a level now that permits us to tell how some of these animals might respond to different levels of pressure."

Buoys Could Provide Early Warning of Red Tides

Toxic algae blooms, sometimes called red tides, result in fish kills and, sometimes, human illnesses in the Gulf of Mexico. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is working to invent new ways of detecting the algae through the Monitoring and Event Response for Harmful Algal Blooms (MERHAB) program.

Lisa Campbell, a professor in the College of Geosciences at Texas A&M University, has a grant from NOAA to develop a system to detect the presence of the tiny algae before it reaches bloom proportions.

Campbell is creating a combination of a microscope and a computer controlled video camera to photograph ocean borne algae. The FlowCAM will provide continuous monitoring, mounted on a new buoy as part of the Texas Automated Buoy System (TABS).

"Having the FlowCAM moored to a buoy off the coast will allow us to secure black and white visual images of the water column and examine them for the presence of particular organisms," Campbell said. "The advantage of this system is that the instrument automatically draws in a sample through its imaging microscope and stores the image on the computer.

Campbell's camera system will use pattern recognition software to pick out images of particular algae species. The images will be sent back to lab via cell phone.

"This technology will make our job easier, since it's impossible for a human researcher to count continuously," explained Campbell. "We'll be able to identify species of algae and to learn more about the community structure of the plankton. We'll especially be looking for Karenia brevis individuals, the species that causes the red tides."

Later, the system will be used to detect other algae species so that researchers can build a data archive for studies of the ocean's phytoplankton community.

"Perhaps our greatest hope is that by allowing continuous sampling and detection in the field, the combination of the TABS buoys and the FlowCAM will allow us to predict deadly red tides earlier," Campbell concluded. "Early warning is the best way to mitigate potential harmful effects of red tides."

Drought Killing Endangered Sonoran Pronghorn

Despite gains made by the Sonoran pronghorn population last year in favorable weather and forage conditions, current conditions have compromised this subspecies. The U.S. population has taken a drastic turn for the worse, biologists say.

"With the exception of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, the rain we've gotten to date appears to be too little or not in the right location," said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) recovery coordinator John Morgart.

This year's relentless drought has eliminated any chances for successful pronghorn reproduction this year, and killed off otherwise healthy adults who cannot find enough food. The minimal forage available may not contain enough moisture for adults to maintain water balance and to suckle their young.

With five to six predominantly dry years in a row, the pronghorn are challenged to find enough nutrition in native vegetation. The growth of their preferred nutrient and moisture rich forage is prompted by rainfall, and the animals cannot travel to where rain is falling because of the obstacles surrounding their remaining range.

The USFWS, the Arizona Game and Fish Department, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Marine Corps, the Bureau of Land Management, and the National Park Service plan to take emergency actions in southwestern Arizona to help the pronghorn. In addition to ongoing long term recovery measures, the partners are stepping up their immediate relief efforts.

"This is a red alert situation," said H. Dale Hall, USFWS Southwest regional director. "The drought is posing a severe threat to a subspecies already low in numbers. But with our partners, we are committed to doing everything we must to keep this animal from extinction."

Emergency actions scheduled to begin this fall include projects at Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge and on the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Air Force sides of the Barry M. Goldwater Range. These projects will include the development of localized water supplies and systems of delivering it to supplement the pronghorns' plant diet.

To prepare for the possibility of another harsh year, recovery team partners will also construct six emergency water sources for direct access by pronghorn this winter.

Other ongoing actions include extending public access road and campground closures on Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument; placement of small emergency water drinkers and supplemental forage such as grass hay and pelleted wildlife feed; and drilling of test wells for potential forage enhancement.

The Sonoran pronghorn is one of five subspecies within the Antilocapridae family, the only native North American antelope. Of all its pronghorn cousins, Sonoran pronghorn suffer the most from habitat fragmentation.

There are three isolated populations of the subspecies, including two in Mexico and one in Arizona. All three contend with interstate highways, border fencing and railroads that confine the populations and prevent movement beyond their current range. Much of their survival depends now on favorable weather, and the efforts of a bi-national recovery team dedicated to the recovery of the Sonoran pronghorn.

Wildfire Kills Captive Mexican Wolves

On July 30, the fast moving wildfire burned over the eastern portion of the center, which houses more than two dozen gray wolves and provides educational programs on wolves and wolf conservation. The four wolves that died were from a pack of eight Mexican gray wolves that are part of a United States-Mexican binational program for the captive breeding of this endangered subspecies of gray wolf.

The pack's alpha female and three of her six pups succumbed to the fire. The alpha male survived, as did three remaining pups that were found inside a concrete fire den that had been installed in the wolves' enclosure to protect against such a catastrophe.

"The loss of these wolves is a tragedy and nothing we do now will bring them back. They were not only important to us as individuals, they were also valuable members of the Mexican wolf recovery effort," said Patrick Valentino, executive director of the Wolf Center.

Firefighters from local and regionwide fire departments and from the California Department of Forestry Fire Division as well as the local San Diego Sheriff and California Highway Patrol, pilots dropping fire retardant, and 12 volunteers and staff from the Center stood between the fire and the wolf enclosure risking their lives up to the last minute to save the wolves.

The wildfire started Monday, after a National Guard helicopter accidentally clipped a phone line. The fire, which has already burned more than 18,000 acres in the surrounding area, moved through the wolf facility in only a few minutes.

The surviving Mexican wolves from the pack are being housed in a smaller sub-enclosure of their pen that was not affected by the fire, and the other wolves at the Center appear healthy and safe. Firefighters and Wolf Center staff and volunteers remain on site around the clock to keep the wolves protected from any further fire damage.

Total damage to the facility is being assessed. The enclosure containing the eight Mexican wolves sustained some fire damage and all of the vegetation in a yet unoccupied enclosure built for Mexican wolves with funds from the Phoenix Zoo and a national wildlife conservation organization, Defenders of Wildlife, was destroyed.

"The Center's commitment to wolf conservation and its participation in the captive breeding program for the Mexican gray wolf is held in high esteem by the wolf conservation community," said Nancy Weiss, California species associate for Defenders of Wildlife. "We are all grieving with the Center over this terrible loss, and send our condolences and support to the Center and its staff."

"While this tragedy will be tough to get through for all of us at the Center and for all the participants in the Mexican gray wolf recovery program, we remain committed to make a growing contribution to the recovery of all North American Gray Wolves," Valentino said.

More information about the California Wolf Center is available at: http://www.californiawolfcenter.org

Hope for Rare Snowy Plovers in California

Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area is located on the central coast of California in San Luis Obispo County near Pismo Beach, and hosts more than one million visitors annually.

The federal government has listed the western snowy plover as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The sparrow sized, pale colored shorebirds breed along the Pacific Coast from southern Washington to southern Baja California, Mexico.

The coastal population is listed as threatened due to a steep decline in breeding numbers, mainly as a result of loss of suitable habitat and disturbance by people.

Snowy plovers nest on open, sandy beaches along much of the coastline from early spring to mid-fall. State Beaches provide essential nesting habitat for plovers, and at a time of the year that coincides with highest visitor use.

California State Parks has initiated extensive protective efforts for the shorebirds at Oceano Dunes, and along the 25 percent of California’s 1,100 mile coastline that is under the agency's jurisdiction.

With the 2002 breeding season about half over at Oceano Dunes, surveys show that of the 50 western snowy plover chicks that have hatched so far this season, 20 have reached fledgling age, the age at which they can fly.

The nesting season has about 10 weeks remaining, but this year’s fledging rate has far surpassed last year’s, when just two western snowy plover chicks survived out of 71 hatched.

“Avian predators hit us hard last year, specifically the loggerhead shrike,” said Laura Gardner, district resource ecologist for Oceano Dunes.

The loggerhead shrike is a songbird that hunts like a small hawk. Its nickname is “butcherbird” because it sometimes hangs its pray on thorns of plants. “With the implementation of a predator management plan in 2002, which includes relocation of the resident shrikes, the outcome looks promising,” Gardner said.

Oceano Dunes also is home to nesting populations of California least terns, an endangered species. Of the 22 California least tern nests established so far this season, 25 chicks have hatched. Fledge rate is unknown.

“Our monitoring of the snowy plover and least tern will continue seven days a week, at least eight hours a day,” Garnder said.

Fines for illegal camping access at Ocean Dunes recently were elevated from $64 to $270 in order to maintain compliance with California Coastal Commission requirements to impose a limit on attendance during the summer months and help reduce conflicts between ORV riders and nesting birds.

New Desktop PC Called Environmentally Friendly

The PowerMate eco is a boxless, all in one unit constructed with a lead free motherboard. The unit uses less power and produces less heat than traditional PCs, and complies with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star® program.

Almost 10 million PCs arrive at landfills throughout the world every year, where their toxic components can harm the environment. The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition points out that the average desktop PC is comprised of at least 36 chemicals including lead, barium, boron and cobalt. The PowerMate eco does not contain any of the chemicals.

The new PowerMate eco, designed to be more environmentally friendly than traditional desktop personal computers. (Photo courtesy NEC Solutions America)

The new PC is made of NuCycle® plastic - an NEC patented plastic that is intended to be 100 percent recyclable. NuCycle is made of polycarbonate resin mixed with a special, flame retardant silicone compound.

Other computer plastics have flame retardant brominated coatings applied, which do retard flames, but produce harmful gases in the process. NuCycle's flame retardant is non-toxic and built in, the company says, requiring no toxic coating.

NEC says the release of the PowerMate eco marks the first time a major computer manufacturer has created a PC to address the growing environmental and workplace problems of traditional desktop PCs.

"NEC has long been a leader in creating strict environmental standards in Japan and Europe, and we in the U.S. are bringing that expertise to our domestic market with the introduction of the PowerMate eco," said Larry Miller, vice president and general manager of the Mobile Solutions Division of NEC Solutions America.

"When you hear about children getting lead poisoning from rummaging through landfills in developing third world countries searching for spare computer parts to sell, you realize the industry has a responsibility to address these problems," Miller added.

The PowerMate eco is targeted at high density computing locations such as call centers, hospitals, reception desks and financial trading rooms, where noise, heat and desktop real estate are a concern. For example, nursing stations in hospital ICUs use desktop PCs with a fan, which collect dust and then blow that dust back into the air. The PowerMate eco, built with no fan, decreases the risk for dispersing dust that puts those with respiratory problems at risk.

NEC says a standard configuration of the PowerMate eco, including a 900 megahertz processor, a 15 inch display, 256 megabytes of memory, a 20 gigabyte hard drive, CD-ROM, Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional and Windows® 2000 Professional, and a read-write DVD/CD-ROM drive will cost about $1,599.