Receiving financial gains for protecting habitat may be necessary to proactively protect endangered species in the United States. Species conservation banking, the creation and trading of "credits" that represent biodiversity values on private land, is nearly a decade old. We detail the biological, financial, and political experience of conservation banking in the United States. We contacted agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and bank owners and compiled comprehensive accounts of the experiences of current banks. There are 76 properties identified as conservation banks in the United States, but only 35 of these are established under a conservation banking agreement approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The 35 official conservation banks cumulatively cover 15,987 ha and shelter a range of biodiversity, including more than 22 species listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Financial motives drove the establishment of 91% of conservation banks, and the majority of for-profit banks are breaking even or making money. With credit prices ranging from $3,000 to $125,000/0.41 ha (1 acre), banking agreements offer financial incentives that compete with development and provide a business-based argument for conserving habitat. Although the bureaucracy of establishing an agreement with the USFWS was burdensome, 63% of bank owners reported they would set up another agreement given the appropriate opportunity. Increasing information sharing, decreasing the time to establish agreements (currently averaging 2.18 years), and reducing bureaucratic challenges can further increase the amount of private property voluntarily committed to banking. Although many ecological uncertainties remain, conservation banking offers at least a partial solution to the conservation versus development conflict over biodiversity.Resumen: La recepción de ganancias financieras por la protección del hábitat puede ser necesaria para la protección preactiva de especies en peligro en los Estados Unidos. La banca para la conservación de especies, la creación y comercio de "créditos" que representan valores de biodiversidad en terrenos privados, comenzó hace casi una década. Aquí detallamos la experiencia biológica, financiera y política de la banca para la conservación en los Estados Unidos. Contactamos agencias, organizaciones no gubernamentales y propietarios de de bancos y compilamos información integral de las experiencias de los bancos actuales. Hay 76 propiedades identificadas como bancos de conservación en los Estados Unidos, pero solo 35 están establecidos bajo un acuerdo de banca para la conservación aprobado por el U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Los 35 bancos para la conservación oficiales cubren 15,987 ha y protegen a una amplia gama de biodiversidad, incluyendo más de 22 especies enlistadas en el Acta de Especies en Peligro de E.U.A. El establecimiento de 91% de los bancos para la conservación tuvo motivos financieros, y la mayoría de los bancos operan con ganancias o en equilibrio. Con precios de créditos en...

No abstract

A complete set of experimental data on novel Electrodialysis Metathesis (EDM) desalination was analyzed using factorial design. EDM consists of repeating quads of four ion-exchange membranes and solution compartments to allow double decomposition reaction between the cations and anions of a feed and a substitution solution when current is applied between the electrodes. The effect of factors affecting the EDM desalination efficiency, such as voltage, flow rate, membrane type, and feed water source was studied using a full 2 4 factorial experimental design. The General Linear Model was used to evaluate the combined effect of the discrete and continuous factor variables introduced in the design. It was found that voltage, water source and membrane type were the most influential factors on the EDM process. Interaction terms were found to be insignificant. The effect of main factors on EDM desalination follow the order voltage > water source > type of membrane. EDM desalinate well saline waters with TDS concentrations higher that the TDS of surface water by applying 15 volts and using Neosepta membranes. The responses obtained with the GLM were in agreement with the experimental data, thus confirming the ability of the model to predict desalination results. Complete desalination of high salinity water was achieved without formation of precipitates in the stack due to the ability of EDM to convert sparingly soluble salts into highly soluble salts.

Development of natural landscapes to support human activities impacts the capacity of the landscape to provide ecosystem services. Typically, several ecosystem services are impacted at a single development site and various footprint scenarios are possible, thus a multi-criteria analysis is needed. Restoration potential should also be considered for the area surrounding the permanent impact site. The primary objective of this research was to develop a heuristic approach to analyze multiple criteria (e.g. impacts to various ecosystem services) in a spatial configuration with many potential development sites. The approach was to: (1) quantify the magnitude of terrestrial ecosystem service (biodiversity, carbon sequestration, nutrient and sediment retention, and pollination) impacts associated with a suite of land use change scenarios using the InVEST model; (2) normalize results across categories of ecosystem services to allow cross-service comparison; (3) apply the multi-criteria heuristic algorithm to select sites with the least impact to ecosystem services, including a spatial criterion (separation between sites). As a case study, the multi-criteria impact minimization algorithm was applied to InVEST output to select 25 potential development sites out of 204 possible locations (selected by other criteria) within a 24,000 ha property. This study advanced a generally applicable spatial multi-criteria approach for 1) considering many land use footprint scenarios, 2) balancing impact decisions across a suite of ecosystem services, and 3) determining the restoration potential of ecosystem services after impacts.

Water quality trading has been proposed as a cost-effective approach for reducing nutrient loads through credit generation from agricultural or point source reductions sold to buyers facing costly options. We present a systematic approach to determine attenuation coefficients and their uncertainty. Using a process-based model, we determine attenuation with safety margins at many watersheds for total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) loads as they transport from point of load reduction to the credit buyer. TN and TP in-stream attenuation generally increases with decreasing mean river flow; smaller rivers in the modeled region of the Ohio River Basin had TN attenuation factors per km, including safety margins, of 0.19−1.6%, medium rivers of 0.14−1.2%, large rivers of 0.13−1.1%, and very large rivers of 0.04−0.42%. Attenuation in ditches transporting nutrients from farms to receiving rivers is 0.4%/km for TN, while for TP attenuation in ditches can be up to 2%/km. A 95 percentile safety margin of 30−40% for TN and 6−10% for TP, applied to the attenuation per km factors, was determined from the in-stream sensitivity of load reductions to watershed model parameters. For perspective, over 50 km a 1% per km factor would result in 50% attenuation = 2:1 trading ratio.