Download or read book ESSAYS ON AGRICULTURAL RISK MANAGEMENT AND WATER USE AND RECREATIONAL FISHING PARTICIPATION AFTER ECOLOGICAL DISRUPTION BY AN INVASIVE SPECIES written by Truong Nhut Chau and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This dissertation contains three essays. The first two essays pertain to the relationship between crop insurance and irrigation management decisions in U.S. agriculture. Irrigation is used as a tool to mitigate the risks of insufficient rainfall and accounts for the majority of water consumption among all water uses. Given growing concerns of future water resource reliability in many areas of the U.S., it is important to understand the relationship between other agricultural risk management strategies and irrigation. The first essay examines how changes in crop insurance coverage affect irrigated land use. This essay takes advantage of major changes in federal crop insurance policy in the mid-1990s. It utilizes an instrumental variable approach to identify the effects of coverage on irrigated land use decisions. The results indicate that increases in coverage, measured as premium per acre, increase the area of irrigated cropland by Western irrigators. In the East, increased coverage is found to decrease the number of irrigated acres.To better understand the relationship between crop insurance and agricultural water demand, the second essay uses producer-level data from 2003-2013 to estimate coverage effects on water use. The results indicate that an increase in coverage decreases the water application rate, reducing total water use for Western producers. For Eastern producers, the relationship between coverage and irrigation is positive but insignificant. This study provides further evidence to suggest that ignoring regional differences can mask the true relationship between coverage and irrigation decisions. The third essay examines the relationship between invasive Asian carp and recreational fishing participation. Bighead (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) and Silver (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) carp, commonly known as Asian carp, are aquatic invasive species that have spread throughout the Mississippi River System. Asian carp have the potential to alter local aquatic ecosystems with negative implications on recreational activities. This study examines the impact that Asian carp has had on recreational fishing participation in states where the carp have become established. After controlling for state-specific linear trends, generalized Difference-in-Difference estimates indicate that the presence of Asian carp has not had any causal effect on recreational angling activity, either as measured by fishing license sales or by days spent fishing. Both wild cluster and moving block bootstraps are implemented to correct for potentially biased variance estimates under finite cluster properties.
Download or read book Ecological Impacts from Climate Change written by and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Growing Problem of Invasive Species written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Resources. Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife, and Oceans and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Economic Implications of Ecological and Economic Spatial Aggregations in Integrated Assessments of Invasive Species written by Stephanie A. Brockmann and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Considered in this dissertation are three essays that examine the consequences of including spatial and ecological details in estimates of welfare following an invasive species invasion. Each essay uncovers the biases that may arise if such components are misrepresented or underutilized, informing policymakers and researchers to proceed with caution in using potentially biased welfare estimates for cost-benefit analysis decisions. In the essays, computable general equilibrium models are applied to a case study on Asian carp in Lake Michigan - an aquatic invasive species expected to impact fish species and Lake areas in heterogenous ways. Construction of the spatial computable general equilibrium models and the implications for model specifications are explored in the first two essays. The third essay examines biological control options and the potential for unintended policy consequences. Chapter 1 develops the computable general equilibrium model that forms the basis for analyzing space and species-specific impacts from the invasion. The model is designed to link spatial biomass data from the Atlantis ecosystem model of Lake Michigan with recreational fishing behavior and the broader economy. Invasion impacts on biomass levels of sport-fishing species across time and space are heterogenous and influence decisions regarding when, where, and what species to fish. After generating the welfare implications from the explicit space and species model, the results are compared to other versions of the model that aggregate out space or species information. Results indicate that aggregating over one or both may under- or over-estimate welfare impacts by failing to account for important tradeoffs between ecological and economic systems. The magnitude and direction of the misestimate depends also on the ecological setting in which the model is applied. As an extension, Chapter 2 modifies the model from the first chapter to include spatially explicit distance costs. The explicit distance costs are derived from geographic information systems data and tools. Results of a comparative analysis across model specifications are driven by the ecological setting, the correlation between the distance costs and the ecology, and the levels of travel price endogeneity. The analysis suggests that the precision of welfare estimates can improve through inclusion of spatially explicit details in both the economic and environmental systems. As an extension, Chapter 2 modifies the model from the first chapter to include spatially explicit distance costs. The explicit distance costs are derived from geographic information systems data and tools. Results of a comparative analysis across model specifications are driven by the ecological setting, the correlation between the distance costs and the ecology, and the levels of travel price endogeneity. The analysis suggests that the precision of welfare estimates can improve through inclusion of spatially explicit details in both the economic and environmental systems. Biological policy data is estimated from the Atlantis ecosystem model using a simulated approach. Comparing the policy results of the two ecological settings illustrates the potential for unintended policy consequences and the importance of including ecosystem characteristics in policy assessment.
Download or read book Research Priorities for Aquatic Invasive Species written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science. Subcommittee on Environment, Technology, and Standards and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Impact of Aquatic Invasive Species on the Great Lakes written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 540 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Invasive Animals and Plants in Massachusetts Lakes and Rivers written by Wai Hing Wong and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2023-05-10 with total page 592 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is a growing demand for appropriate management of aquatic invasive species in lakes and rivers worldwide. This book covers biology, invasion ecology, sightings, and control techniques of 4 invasive animals and 15 invasive plants in Massachusetts lakes and rivers. It provides valuable information on their biological characteristics and potential expansion pathways, as well as monitoring and management, including alternative management tools using updated biological, chemical, and mechanical methods. The book also includes the regulation of invasive species management to allow resource managers, biologists, practitioners, volunteers, and students a better understanding of compliance and enforcement with environmental law. An example of successful management is highlighted for each invasive species. Invasive Animals and Plants in Massachusetts Lakes and Rivers is the first book to provide comprehensive and systematic coverage and illustrations for both freshwater invasive animals and plants. Although focussing on Massachusetts, it will provide readers with the bigger picture on multiple invasive species, from prevention, early detection, control, ecological restoration, to public education. Natural resource managers in Massachusetts and surrounding states will glean the detailed and valuable information they need to learn and use to prevent and manage freshwater invasive species in the field.
Download or read book Invasive Species in Forests and Rangelands of the United States written by Therese M. Poland and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-02-01 with total page 455 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book describes the serious threat of invasive species to native ecosystems. Invasive species have caused and will continue to cause enormous ecological and economic damage with ever increasing world trade. This multi-disciplinary book, written by over 100 national experts, presents the latest research on a wide range of natural science and social science fields that explore the ecology, impacts, and practical tools for management of invasive species. It covers species of all taxonomic groups from insects and pathogens, to plants, vertebrates, and aquatic organisms that impact a diversity of habitats in forests, rangelands and grasslands of the United States. It is well-illustrated, provides summaries of the most important invasive species and issues impacting all regions of the country, and includes a comprehensive primary reference list for each topic. This scientific synthesis provides the cultural, economic, scientific and social context for addressing environmental challenges posed by invasive species and will be a valuable resource for scholars, policy makers, natural resource managers and practitioners.
Download or read book Assessing Risks to Endangered and Threatened Species from Pesticides written by Committee on Ecological Risk Assessment Under FIFRA and ESA and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2013-07-04 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) are responsible for protecting species that are listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and for protecting habitats that are critical for their survival. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for registering or reregistering pesticides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and must ensure that pesticide use does not cause any unreasonable adverse effects on the environment, which is interpreted to include listed species and their critical habitats. The agencies have developed their own approaches to evaluating environmental risk, and their approaches differ because their legal mandates, responsibilities, institutional cultures, and expertise differ. Over the years, the agencies have tried to resolve their differences but have been unsuccessful in reaching a consensus regarding their assessment approaches. As a result, FWS, NMFS, EPA, and the US Department of Agriculture asked the National Research Council (NRC) to examine scientific and technical issues related to determining risks posed to listed species by pesticides. Specifically, the NRC was asked to evaluate methods for identifying the best scientific data available; to evaluate approaches for developing modeling assumptions; to identify authoritative geospatial information that might be used in risk assessments; to review approaches for characterizing sublethal, indirect, and cumulative effects; to assess the scientific information available for estimating effects of mixtures and inert ingredients; and to consider the use of uncertainty factors to account for gaps in data. Assessing Risks to Endangered and Threatened Species from Pesticides, which was prepared by the NRC Committee on Ecological Risk Assessment under FIFRA and ESA, is the response to that request.
Download or read book Ecosystems of California written by Harold Mooney and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2016-01-19 with total page 1008 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This long-anticipated reference and sourcebook for CaliforniaÕs remarkable ecological abundance provides an integrated assessment of each major ecosystem typeÑits distribution, structure, function, and management. A comprehensive synthesis of our knowledge about this biologically diverse state, Ecosystems of California covers the state from oceans to mountaintops using multiple lenses: past and present, flora and fauna, aquatic and terrestrial, natural and managed. Each chapter evaluates natural processes for a specific ecosystem, describes drivers of change, and discusses how that ecosystem may be altered in the future. This book also explores the drivers of CaliforniaÕs ecological patterns and the history of the stateÕs various ecosystems, outlining how the challenges of climate change and invasive species and opportunities for regulation and stewardship could potentially affect the stateÕs ecosystems. The text explicitly incorporates both human impacts and conservation and restoration efforts and shows how ecosystems support human well-being. Edited by two esteemed ecosystem ecologists and with overviews by leading experts on each ecosystem, this definitive work will be indispensable for natural resource management and conservation professionals as well as for undergraduate or graduate students of CaliforniaÕs environment and curious naturalists.
Download or read book Battle Against Extinction written by W. L. Minckley and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2017-08-15 with total page 538 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "[A]n essential addition to the library of anyone concerned with conservation of native fishes, [Battle Against Extinction] provides a detailed historical review of research and management programs in a single source and serves as a prospectus for future conservation efforts."--Copeia
Download or read book Ecological Risk Assessment and Management of Invasive Freshwater Fish Species from Aquarium and Ornamental Trades in Hong Kong written by Chi-Fai Ho and published by Open Dissertation Press. This book was released on 2017-01-26 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This dissertation, "Ecological Risk Assessment and Management of Invasive Freshwater Fish Species From Aquarium and Ornamental Trades in Hong Kong" by Chi-fai, Ho, 何志輝, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: Since globalization have promoted the ornamental trade and accelerated the movement of freshwater fishes around the world, non-native species pose a high potential to be released into local freshwater habitats, and to spread and establish as invasive and nuisance species with adverse ecological, economic and social impacts. This study aimed to investigate the potential of the ornamental freshwater fish trade as an invasion pathway in Hong Kong, assess the ecological risk of common aquarium freshwater fish species being traded in the local market, identify species of concern and recommend ways for their management with a view to minimizing biological invasion risk associated with the aquarium trade. Based on a series of systematic market surveys through visiting 46 major aquarium shops in Hong Kong, about 167 freshwater fish species were found in the local aquarium trade between summer 2012 and spring 2013. Twenty-five species were randomly selected to go through two standard ecological risk assessment protocols (i.e., FISK & IFRA). The assessment results indicated that the goldfish (Carassius auratus), common carp (Cyprinus carpio carpio) and Wel's catfish (Silurus glanis) have a high invasive risk in Hong Kong. The ornamental trade is one of the significant sources of freshwater fish invasions in Hong Kong. An integrated invasive species management plan is recommended to apply and implement in Hong Kong. The key elements of this management plan include (1) development of law and regulation on invasive species, (2) establishment of an early detection programme (like the current study), (3) implementation of control and eradication measures, (4) setting up invasive species handling guidelines and (5) fostering public education programs on biological invasion prevention. The plan should involve the participation of all stakeholders, such as government, industry, social community organization and public in order to engage them to jointly effectively tackle and manage invasive species and thereby conserve Hong Kong's aquatic biodiversity. DOI: 10.5353/th_b5099114 Subjects: Introduced freshwater organisms - Environmental aspects - China - Hong Kong Introduced fishes - Environmental aspects - China - Hong Kong
Download or read book A Handbook of Global Freshwater Invasive Species written by Robert A. Francis and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-03-12 with total page 918 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Invasive non-native species are a major threat to global biodiversity. Often introduced accidentally through international travel or trade, they invade and colonize new habitats, often with devastating consequences for the local flora and fauna. Their environmental impacts can range from damage to resource production (e.g. agriculture and forestry) and infrastructure (e.g. buildings, road and water supply), to human health. They consequently can have major economic impacts. It is a priority to prevent their introduction and spread, as well as to control them. Freshwater ecosystems are particularly at risk from invasions and are landscape corridors that facilitate the spread of invasives. This book reviews the current state of knowledge of the most notable global invasive freshwater species or groups, based on their severity of economic impact, geographic distribution outside of their native range, extent of research, and recognition of the ecological severity of the impact of the species by the IUCN. As well as some of the very well-known species, the book also covers some invasives that are emerging as serious threats. Examples covered include a range of aquatic and riparian plants, insects, molluscs, crustacea, fish, amphibians, reptiles and mammals, as well as some major pathogens of aquatic organisms. The book also includes overview chapters synthesizing the ecological impact of invasive species in fresh water and summarizing practical implications for the management of rivers and other freshwater habitats.
Download or read book Essays on the Bioeconomic Control of Invasive Species and Forest Pests written by Charles Boyd Sims and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Like many natural resource and environmental issues, controlling pest species requires both economic and ecological considerations. Economic considerations revolve around comparing costs and benefits in an attempt to determine optimal economic activity. Especially critical in natural resource and environmental applications is recognizing the role of uncertainty as well as interconnections within economic markets. Ecological considerations provide a more robust account of the direct and indirect impact of economic activity on the natural world. An integrated approach to pest species management recognizes that the economic system influences and responds to ecosystems and vice-versa. The integration of these two disciplines creates a bioeconomic system, often uncovering critical feedback loops which better inform policy. The purpose of this research is to employ integrated bioeconomic models to investigate economic policies aimed at controlling invasive species and destructive forest pests. Specifically, three essays are developed which focus on various policy issues that arise when integrated bioeconomic models are used to craft policies of invasive species and forest pest management. The first essay develops an optimal stopping/optimal control framework to address the control of a biological invader. In this framework, control of the invader is treated as an uncertain and irreversible investment in which timing and degree of investment are simultaneously considered. Invasive species range is assumed to evolve according to a geometric Brownian motion process. Using a real options framework, an analytical solution for the optimal stopping threshold is provided. This threshold is then employed as a constraint in a minimization problem which determines the optimal rate of invasive species spread which minimizes damages and control costs. The result is an invasive species policy which is optimized over both time and degree of control. The second essay extends the optimal stopping/optimal control framework developed in essay one by allowing for barriers which may limit future spread of the invasive species. In this way, essay two recognizes that optimal invasive species policies require the consideration of spatial factors which are not readily incorporated into traditional optimal stopping models. Results indicate that inclusion of an upper absorbing barrier on invasive species spread may dramatically alter invasive species policy under certain circumstances. The framework developed in this essay is applied to the current invasion of emerald ash borer in the United States. Results illustrate the presence of a spatial-dynamic externality which leads to invasive species control decisions that may be suboptimal from a social perspective. The third essay develops a bioeconomic timber harvesting model to analyze how harvesting decisions made at localized and centralized levels influence mountain pine beetle populations and dynamics. Because mountain pine beetle and pine forests interact according to a predator-prey relationship, the risk of forest damage arising from mountain pine beetle mortality is endogenous in nature. Essentially, timber harvesting creates a positive production externality which limits mountain pine beetle populations and dampens natural cycles of the pest. However, dispersal of mountain pine beetle forces localized managers to treat mountain pine beetle risk as exogenous. As a result, localized managers ignore the positive production externality, resulting in a suboptimal harvest of live trees. A central manager, who considers the forest across its entire range, will optimally incorporate this positive production externality, resulting in increased levels of timber harvesting, subsequently reducing mountain pine beetle mortality. A dynamic harvest subsidy is developed which allows localized forest managers to fully incorporate this production externality and achieve welfare maximizing harvest levels.
Download or read book Ecological Impacts from Climate Change written by United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-07-11 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ecological Impacts from Climate Change: Economic Analysis of Fresh Water Recreational Fishing (Includes Insert)
Download or read book Ballast Water and Invasive Species written by Gilles Wuyts and published by Nova Publishers. This book was released on 2021-08 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With increases in the number of people traveling, the speed and methods of travel, the types and volume of trade, the ability to move living plants and animals so that more of them survive the journey, and the different modes of transport for hitch-hiking organisms, invasive species have become a global concern. Although there are many ways in which species may invade, this book focuses on ballast water discharge by cargo ships as one of the more significant mechanisms for biotic invasion of coastal and estuarine habitats as well as inland navigable waters. The economic, social, recreational, and ecological losses/costs attributable to aquatic invasive species are difficult to quantify. While some costs have been estimated, such as the $5 billion in damages to water pipes, boat hulls, and other hard surfaces by zebra mussels in the Great Lakes, others, such as the losses of native species and environment restoration to pre-invasion quality, are unknown.
Download or read book Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists written by and published by . This book was released on 1972-09 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is the premier public resource on scientific and technological developments that impact global security. Founded by Manhattan Project Scientists, the Bulletin's iconic "Doomsday Clock" stimulates solutions for a safer world.
