Barriers to Using UAVs in Conservation and Environmental Management: A Systematic Review.

The ability to adopt novel tools continues to become more important for governments and environmental managers tasked with balancing economic development, social needs and environmental protection. An example of an emerging technology that can enable flexible, cost-effective data collection for conservation and environmental management is Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). It is clear that UAVs are beginning to be adopted for a diversity of purposes, identification of barriers to their use is the first step in increasing their uptake amongst the environmental management community. Identifying the barriers to UAV usage will enable research and management communities to confidently utilise these powerful pieces of technology. However, the implementation of this technology for environmental research has received little overall assessment attention. This systematic literature review has identified 9 barrier categories (namely Technological, Analytical and Processing, Regulatory, Cost, Safety, Social, Wildlife impact, work suitability and others) inhibiting the uptake of UAV technologies. Technological barriers were referenced in the literature most often, with the inability of UAVs to perform in poor weather (such as rain or windy conditions) commonly mentioned. Analytical and Processing and Regulatory barriers were also consistently reported. It is likely that some barriers identified will lessen with time (e.g. technological and analytical barriers) as this technology continues to evolve.

Restoration of marine ecosystems: Understanding possible futures for optimal outcomes.

Accelerating declines in the extent, quality and functioning of the world's marine ecosystems have generated an upsurge in focus on practical solutions, with ecosystem restoration becoming an increasingly attractive mitigation strategy for systems as diverse as coral reefs, mangroves and tidal flats. While restoration is popular because it promises positive outcomes and a return to something approaching unimpacted condition and functioning, it involves substantial public and private investment, both for the initial restoration activity and for on-going maintenance of the restored asset. This investment often affords one big chance to get things right before irretrievable damage is done. As a result, precise, well considered and accountable decision-making is needed to determine the specific focus for restoration, the scale of restoration, the location for deploying restoration activities, and indeed whether or not restoration is necessary or even possible. We explore the environmental/ecological considerations and constraints governing optimal decisions about the nature, location and prioritisation of restoration activities in marine ecosystems, and in particular the constraints on achieving understanding of possible futures and the likelihood of achieving them. We conclude that action must be informed by a context-specific understanding of the historical situation, the current situation, the constraints on change, the range of potential outcome scenarios, and the potential futures envisioned.

The utility of bioenergetics modelling in quantifying predation rates of marine apex predators: Ecological and fisheries implications.

Predators play a crucial role in the structure and function of ecosystems. However, the magnitude of this role is often unclear, particularly for large marine predators, as predation rates are difficult to measure directly. If relevant biotic and abiotic parameters can be obtained, then bioenergetics modelling offers an alternative approach to estimating predation rates, and can provide new insights into ecological processes. We integrate demographic and ecological data for a marine apex predator, the broadnose sevengill shark Notorynchus cepedianus, with energetics data from the literature, to construct a bioenergetics model to quantify predation rates on key fisheries species in Norfolk Bay, Australia. We account for the uncertainty in model parameters by incorporating parameter confidence through Monte Carlo simulations and running alternative variants of the model. Model and parameter variants provide alternative estimates of predation rates. Our simplest model estimates that ca. 1130 ± 137 N. cepedianus individuals consume 11,379 (95% CI: 11,111-11,648) gummy sharks Mustelus antarcticus (~21 tonnes) over a 36-week period in Norfolk Bay, which represents a considerable contribution to total predation mortality on this key fishery species. This study demonstrates how the integration of ecology and fisheries science can provide information for ecosystem and fisheries management.

Guiding principles for the improved governance of port and shipping impacts in the Great Barrier Reef.

The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) region of Queensland, Australia, encompasses a complex and diverse array of tropical marine ecosystems of global significance. The region is also a World Heritage Area and largely within one of the world's best managed marine protected areas. However, a recent World Heritage Committee report drew attention to serious governance problems associated with the management of ports and shipping. We review the impacts of ports and shipping on biodiversity in the GBR, and propose a series of guiding principles to improve the current governance arrangements. Implementing these principles will increase the capacity of decision makers to minimize the impacts of ports and shipping on biodiversity, and will provide certainty and clarity to port operators and developers. A 'business as usual' approach could lead to the GBR's inclusion on the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2014.

Reproductive periodicity of the sparid, Acanthopagrus pacificus, on a hierarchy of temporal scales.

The reproductive periodicity of the sparid, Acanthopagrus pacificus, over four temporal scales is described. Acanthopagrus pacificus had a short spawning season between June and September, and within this, a peak reproductive period from July to early September. During the peak period there were several spawning peaks corresponding to a lunar periodicity, with intense reproductive activity on new and full moons that peaked during the period of the full moon when the tidal range was greatest. At the smallest temporal scale, spawning occurred at night on ebb tides. Because this study draws on data collected in 1991 and 1995, it provides a useful baseline against which to judge future changes in reproductive periodicity.