Views of the creation.

Woodcuts: title vignette; frontispiece, included in pagination.

Views of the creation.

Frontispiece included in pagination.

Public Use; Tabulations of Visitors to Areas Administered by the National Park Service

Title Varies: Comparative Travel Data; Visitors To Areas Administered by the National Park Service; Public Use, National Parks and Related Areas; Public Use of the National Parks; a Statistical Report; Public Use of the National Parks

Resource partitioning in sympatric delphinids: Space use and habitat preferences of Australian snubfin and Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins

1. Many species of delphinids co-occur in space and time. However, little is known of their ecological interactions and the underlying mechanisms that mediate their coexistence. 2. Snubfin Orcaella heinsohni, and Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins Sousa chinensis, live in sympatry throughout most of their range in Australian waters. I conducted boat-based surveys in Cleveland Bay, north-east Queensland, to collect data on the space and habitat use of both species. Using Geographic Information Systems, kernel methods and Euclidean distances I investigated interspecific differences in their space use patterns, behaviour and habitat preferences. 3. Core areas of use (50% kernel range) for both species were located close to river mouths and modified habitat such as dredged channels and breakwaters close to the Port of Townsville. Foraging and travelling activities were the dominant behavioural activities of snubfin and humpback dolphins within and outside their core areas. 4. Their representative ranges (95% kernel range) overlapped considerably, with shared areas showing strong concordance in the space use by both species. Nevertheless, snubfin dolphins preferred slightly shallower (1-2 m) waters than humpback dolphins (2-5 m). Additionally, shallow areas with seagrass ranked high in the habitat preferences of snubfin dolphins, whereas humpback dolphins favoured dredged channels. 5. Slight differences in habitat preferences appear to be one of the principal factors maintaining the coexistence of snubfin and humpback dolphins. I suggest diet partitioning and interspecific aggression as the major forces determining habitat selection in these sympatric species.

Perpetual private land conservation: the case for outdoor recreation and functional leisure

As natural areas, agricultural lands, and open spaces continue to be developed at unprecedented rates, it is important for land conservation professionals to understand the individuals who might play a role in permanently protecting these lands and their ecological services. Many factors have been shown to influence land protection decisions among private owners, including land-use activities, demographic characteristics, and environmental intention and behavior. With the hypothesis that individuals already involved in land conservation programs would be candidates for permanent protection, we set out to model conservation easement decisions within a group of participants in southern Indiana’s Classified Forest and Wildlands Program (ICFWP). We used a mailed questionnaire to survey 500 landowners, garnering 308 responses, about their interest in conservation easements. Our results indicated significant positive relationships between interest in conservation easements with variables representing perception of landscape change, outdoor recreation behavior as an adult, and environmental organization membership. By better understanding the ways these factors promote permanent land-use decisions, land conservation professionals can better allocate limited resources through strategic investments in targeting and outreach.

Social-ecological resilience and biosphere-based sustainability science

Humanity has emerged as a major force in the operation of the biosphere. The focus is shifting from the environment as externality to the biosphere as precondition for social justice, economic development, and sustainability. In this article, we exemplify the intertwined nature of social-ecological systems and emphasize that they operate within, and as embedded parts of the biosphere and as such coevolve with and depend on it. We regard social-ecological systems as complex adaptive systems and use a social-ecological resilience approach as a lens to address and understand their dynamics. We raise the challenge of stewardship of development in concert with the biosphere for people in diverse contexts and places as critical for long-term sustainability and dignity in human relations. Biosphere stewardship is essential, in the globalized world of interactions with the Earth system, to sustain and enhance our life-supporting environment for human well-being and future human development on Earth, hence, the need to reconnect development to the biosphere foundation and the need for a biosphere-based sustainability science.

Estimating social carrying capacity in protected Mediterranean mountain areas. Methodological orientation

The concept of social carrying capacity, though opens to debate and critique, is a valuable tool that enhances the management of recreational use in protected natural areas. In this study, conducted in Sierra de las Nieves natural park (Spain), we first categorised the hikers making use of the park and then, from the profiles obtained, analysed their perception of crowding on the trails. This assessment was subsequently used to assess levels of user satisfaction and thus to determine the psychosocial carrying capacity of the park. The results obtained can be extrapolated to most of the Spanish natural parks in Mediterranean mountain areas, due to their comparable levels of visitor numbers and to the prevalence of recreational hiking use. The results suggest that management efforts should be directed toward relocating trails outside the core areas, such that user preferences may be satisfied while less impact is made on the areas of highest environmental value.

Eco-touristic snorkelling routes at Marinha beach (Algarve): Environmental education and human impacts

The use of natural areas for underwater coastal marine activities such as snorkelling is growing, but the amount of ecological and socioeconomic data on these activities is scarce and relates mainly to coral reef areas. Three underwater self-guided routes were designed at Marinha Beach (Algarve, Portugal), based on scientific information, with in situ interpretation and guidance, as a way to enhance biodiversity awareness and, hence, reduce the probability of human impacts. The routes were implemented in two consecutive summer seasons and after each season, visual census techniques were used to describe flora composition and cover area (seaweeds and seagrasses) in order to understand patterns and evaluate human impacts. Snorkelers' opinions and perceptions about several issues related to the routes' environmental education role (e.g. role in enhancing biocliversity awareness) were investigated by questionnaire after the snorkelling activity. An inter-annual difference inflora assemblages was found, probably associated to natural variability, rather than snorkelers' impacts. Results indicate that, in fact, in situ education and interpretation can raise environmental awareness if properly addressed, resulting in a satisfactory way of engaging snorkelers in the protection and in the conservation of the visited environments, thereby preventing negative ecological impacts. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fast natural regeneration in abandoned pastures in southern Amazonia.

2016

Caminhada de pessoas com deficiencia visual em areas naturais : um estudo com auxilio do GPS (Sistema de Posicionamento Global)

Universidade Estadual de Campinas . Faculdade de Educação Física

Frog diversity in the Floresta Nacional de Chapecó, Atlantic Forest of southern Brazil

The Atlantic Forest is considered one of the world's biological diversity hotspots but is nevertheless increasingly threatened with the rapid destruction and fragmentation of its natural areas. In the state of Santa Catarina, southern Brazil, remnants of the mixed ombrophilous forest and seasonal deciduous forest exist as islands within large areas of agriculture, pastures and human settlements. Here we present information on species richness and habitat use by anurans in the Floresta Nacional de Chapecó, located in the western portion of the state of Santa Catarina. Anurans were surveyed by active search of potential reproductive sites from December 1998 to December 2001. A total of 29 species were recorded, most of which have a known distribution restricted to southern Brazil and adjacent countries (Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay) and use open areas for reproduction. The species composition was most similar to other areas of mixed ombrophilous forest and seasonal deciduous forest from the extreme south of Brazil. The information in this study may support the implementation of conservation and management strategies in the area.

Economics of Environmental Conservation

This fully updated and comprehensively revised edition of a classic text concentrates on the economics of conserving the living environment. It begins by covering the ethical foundations and basic economic paradigms’ essential for understanding and assessing ecological economics. General strategies for global environmental conservation, policies for government intervention, developing countries, preserving wildlife and biodiversity, open-access to and common property in natural resources, conservation of natural areas, forestry, agriculture and the environment, tourism, sustainable development and demographic change are also all covered.

Pricing corporate bonds in Brazil: 2000 to 2004

This paper analyzes the factors that influence the issuing price of debentures in Brazil in the period from year 2000 to 2004, applying a factor model, in which exogenous variables explain return and price behavior. The variables in this study include: rating, choice of index, maturity, country risk, basic interest rate, long-term and short-term rate spread, the stock market index, and the foreign exchange rate. Results indicate that the index variable, probability of default and bond`s maturity influence pricing and points out associations of long-term bonds with better rating issues. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of hotel characteristics on room rates in Porto: a hedonic price approach

According to the hedonic price method, a price of a good is related with the characteristics or the services it provides. Within this framework, the aim of this study it is to examine the effect on room rates of different characteristics of hotels in and around the city of Porto, such as star category, size, room and service quality, hotel facilities and location. It was estimated a hedonic price function, using data for 51 hotels. The results enable to identify the attributes that are important to consumers and hoteliers and to which extent. This information can be used by hotel managers to define a price strategy and helpful in new investment decisions.

Differential exploitation of cashew - a low conflict crop - by sympatric humans and chimpanzees

Modification of natural areas by human activities mostly has a negative impact on wildlife by increasing the geographical and ecological overlap between people and animals. This can result in escalating levels of competition and conflict between humans and wildlife, for example over crops. However, data on specific crops and crop parts that are unattractive to wildlife yet important for human livelihoods are surprisingly scarce, especially considering their potential application to reducing crop damage by wildlife. Here we examine the co-utilization of a nationally important and spatially abundant cash crop, cashew Anacardium occidentalis, by people and chimpanzees Pan troglodytes verus inhabiting a forested–agricultural matrix in Cantanhez National Park in Guinea-Bissau. In this Park people predominantly harvest the marketable cashew nut and discard the unprofitable fruit whereas chimpanzees only consume the fruit. Local farmers generally perceive a benefit of raiding by chimpanzees as they reportedly pile the nuts, making harvesting easier. By ensuring that conflict levels over crops, especially those with high economic importance, remain low, the costs of living in proximity to wildlife can potentially be reduced. Despite high levels of deforestation associated with cashew farming, these findings point to the importance of cashew as a low-conflict crop in this area.