Building a decision-support tool to inform sustainability approaches under complexity: Case study on managing wild ruminants.

In wildlife management, differing perspectives among stakeholders generate conflicts about how to achieve disparate sustainability goals that include ecological, economic, and sociocultural dimensions. To mitigate such conflicts, decisions regarding wildlife management must be taken thoughtfully. To our knowledge, there exists no integrative modeling framework to inform these decisions, considering all dimensions of sustainability. We constructed a decision-support tool based on stakeholder workshops and a Bayesian decision network to inform management of wild ruminants in the federal state of Lower Austria. We use collaborative decision analysis to compare resource allocations while accounting for trade-offs among dimensions of sustainability. The tool is designed for application by non-technical users across diverse decision-making contexts with particular sets of wildlife management actions, objectives, and uncertainties. Our tool represents an important step toward developing and evaluating a transparent and replicable approach for mitigating wildlife-based conflicts in Europe and beyond.

Enhancing monitoring and transboundary collaboration for conserving migratory species under global change: The priority case of the red kite.

Calls for urgent action to conserve biodiversity under global change are increasing, and conservation of migratory species in this context poses special challenges. In the last two decades the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) has provided a framework for several subsidiary instruments including action plans for migratory bird species, but the effectiveness and transferability of these plans remain unclear. Such laws and policies have been credited with positive outcomes for the conservation of migratory species, but the lack of international coordination and on-ground implementation pose major challenges. While research on migratory populations has received growing attention, considerably less emphasis has been given to integrating ecological information throughout the annual cycle for examining strategies to conserve migratory species at multiple scales in the face of global change. We fill this gap through a case study examining the ecological status and conservation of a migratory raptor and facultative scavenger, the red kite (Milvus milvus), whose current breeding range is limited to Europe and is associated with agricultural landscapes and restricted to the temperate zone. Based on our review, conservation actions have been successful at recovering red kite populations within certain regions. Populations however remain depleted along the southern-most edge of the geographic range where many migratory red kites from northern strongholds overwinter. This led us to a forward-looking and integrated strategy that emphasizes international coordination involving researchers and conservation practitioners to enhance the science-policy-action interface. We identify and explore key issues for conserving the red kite under global change, including enhancing conservation actions within and outside protected areas, recovering depleted populations, accounting for climate change, and transboundary coordination in adaptive conservation and management actions. The integrated conservation strategy is sufficiently general such that it can be adapted to inform conservation of other highly mobile species subject to global change.

Assessment of drivers of spatial genetic variation of a ground-dwelling bird species and its implications for conservation.

In modern wildlife ecology, spatial population genetic methods are becoming increasingly applied. Especially for animal species in fragmented landscapes, preservation of gene flow becomes a high priority target in order to restore genetic diversity and prevent local extinction. Within Central Europe, the Alps represent the core distribution area of the black grouse, Lyrurus tetrix. At its easternmost Alpine range, events of subpopulation extinction have already been documented in the past decades. Molecular data combined with spatial analyses can help to assess landscape effects on genetic variation and therefore can be informative for conservation management. Here, we addressed whether the genetic pattern of the easternmost Alpine black grouse metapopulation system is driven by isolation by distance or isolation by resistance. Correlative ecological niche modeling was used to assess geographic distances and landscape resistances. We then applied regression-based approaches combined with population genetic analyses based on microsatellite data to disentangle effects of isolation by distance and isolation by resistance among individuals and subpopulations. Although population genetic analyses revealed overall low levels of genetic differentiation, the ecological niche modeling showed subpopulations to be clearly delimited by habitat structures. Spatial genetic variation could be attributed to effects of isolation by distance among individuals and isolation by resistance among subpopulations, yet unknown effects might factor in. The easternmost subpopulation was the most differentiated, and at the same time, immigration was not detected; hence, its long-term survival might be threatened. Our study provides valuable insights into the spatial genetic variation of this small-scale metapopulation system of Alpine black grouse.

Maximizing Information From Routine Staging Computed Tomography in Functional Neuroendocrine Neoplasms: Are There Findings Indicating the Presence of Carcinoid Heart Disease?

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate signs of right-sided heart dysfunction on staging computed tomography (CT) as indirect indicators of carcinoid heart disease. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients with functionally active neuroendocrine neoplasm and different grades of tricuspid valve regurgitation (TR) were identified. Two readers independently reviewed contrast-enhanced staging CT performed within 90 days before or after echocardiography. Logistic regression and receiver operating analyses were used to asses the predictive value of right ventricle-left ventricle ratio (RV-LV ratio), ventricular septal bowing, retrograde contrast filling of the hepatic veins during contrast injection, and time to aortal enhancement greater than 100 Hounsfield units during bolus tracking for TR. RESULTS: Forty-four examinations were evaluated (11 with TR = 0, 16 with TR = 1, 9 with TR = 2, and 8 with TR = 3). Right ventricle-LV ratio was found to predict TR less than or equal to 1 versus TR greater than 1 (P = 0.0188) and TR less than or equal to 1 versus TR equals 2 (P = 0.0082). A prolonged time to aortal enhancement greater than 100 Hounsfield units during bolus tracking predicted TR less than or equal to 1 versus TR greater than 1 (P = 0.0077). Area under the curve for RV-LV ratio was 0.86 when differentiating TR less than or equal to 1 versus TR equals 2. With a cutoff of 1.07, sensitivity was 0.89, and specificity was 0.72. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with functionally active neuroendocrine neoplasm, an RV-LV ratio of more than 1.07 predicted TR with a relatively high sensitivity and moderate specificity and thus could serve as an indicator of subclinical carcinoid heart disease on routine staging CT.

The effect of antioxidants on the quality of cryopreserved semen in two salmonid fish, the brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) and the rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss).

Until now the supplementation of cryopreservation extenders with antioxidants has not been examined in teleost fish. Therefore, the present study investigated whether addition of antioxidants (catalase, superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, reduced glutathione, reduced methione, mixtures of reduced and oxidized glutathione or methionine) to the cryopreservation extenders could increase the quality of frozen-thawed semen of brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis, and rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss. In brook trout and rainbow trout semen post-thaw fertility and motility were evaluated and in brook trout additionally the membrane integrity, DNA integrity, and sperm lipid peroxidation were evaluated. The tested antioxidants affected the motility parameters, DNA integrity, and fertility of cryopreserved semen, but not the membrane integrity. Most of the observed effects were negative and only minor positive effects were found. In brook trout 1.5 mmol/l reduced methionine and a mixture of 1.5 mmol/l oxidized and reduced glutathione increased the swimming velocity of frozen-thawed semen. One hundred U/l catalase, 1.5 mmol/l reduced glutathione, and 1.5 mmol/l reduced methionine slightly, but not statistically significantly increased the semen post-thaw fertility. However, these effects were not detectable in rainbow trout. Antioxidative stress or damage seems to play no role during cryopreservation, as also in the lipid peroxidation test no differences were obtained between fresh and cryopreserved semen. Therefore, for routine cryopreservation extender supplementation with antioxidants is not recommended in brook trout and rainbow trout.