Microbial ecologists and systematists are challenged to discover the early ecological changes that drive the splitting of one bacterial population into two ecologically distinct populations. We have aimed to identify newly divergent lineages ("ecotypes") bearing the dynamic properties attributed to species, with the rationale that discovering their ecological differences would reveal the ecological dimensions of speciation. To this end, we have sampled bacteria from the Bacillus subtilis-Bacillus licheniformis clade from sites differing in solar exposure and soil texture within a Death Valley canyon. Within this clade, we hypothesized ecotype demarcations based on DNA sequence diversity, through analysis of the clade's evolutionary history by Ecotype Simulation (ES) and AdaptML. Ecotypes so demarcated were found to be significantly different in their associations with solar exposure and soil texture, suggesting that these and covarying environmental parameters are among the dimensions of ecological divergence for newly divergent Bacillus ecotypes. Fatty acid composition appeared to contribute to ecotype differences in temperature adaptation, since those ecotypes with more warm-adapting fatty acids were isolated more frequently from sites with greater solar exposure. The recognized species and subspecies of the B. subtilis-B. licheniformis clade were found to be nearly identical to the ecotypes demarcated by ES, with a few exceptions where a recognized taxon is split at most into three putative ecotypes. Nevertheless, the taxa recognized do not appear to encompass the full ecological diversity of the B. subtilis-B. licheniformis clade: ES and AdaptML identified several newly discovered clades as ecotypes that are distinct from any recognized taxon.
Valuing nature's benefits in monetary terms is necessary for policy-makers facing trade-offs in how to spend limited financial resources on environmental protection. We provide information to assess trade-offs associated with the management of seagrass beds, which provide a number of ecosystem services, but are presently impacted by many stressors. We develop an interdisciplinary framework for valuing multiple ecosystem services and apply it to the case of eelgrass (Zostera marina), a dominant seagrass species in the northern hemisphere. We identify and quantify links between three eelgrass functions (habitat for fish, carbon, and nitrogen uptake) and economic goods in Sweden, quantify these using ecological endpoints, estimate the marginal average value of the impact of losing one hectare of eelgrass along the Swedish northwest coast on welfare in monetary terms, and aggregate these values while considering double-counting. Over a 20-50 year period we find that compared to unvegetated habitats, a hectare of eelgrass, including the organic material accumulated in the sediment, produces an additional 626 kg cod fishes and 7535 wrasse individuals and sequesters 98.6 ton carbon and 466 kg nitrogen. We value the flow of future benefits associated with commercial fishing, avoided climate change damages, and reduced eutrophication at 170,000 SEK in 2014 (20,700 US$) or 11,000 SEK (1300 US$) annualized at 4%. Fish production, which is the most commonly valued ecosystem service in the seagrass literature, only represented 25% of the total value whereas a conservative estimate of nitrogen regulation constituted 46%, suggesting that most seagrass beds are undervalued. Comparing these values with historic losses of eelgrass we show that the Swedish northwest coast has suffered a substantial reduction in fish production and mineral regulation. Future work should improve the understanding of the geographic scale of eelgrass functions, how local variables affect the value of these functions, and how to defensibly aggregate a multitude of economic values.
This article advocates for better implementation of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) framework as applied to wind power development, with a particular focus on improving compensatory restoration scaling. If properly enforced, the environmental impacts hierarchy "avoid -minimize -compensate" provides the regulated community with incentives to prevent wildlife and habitat impacts in sensitive areas and, if necessary, compensate for residual impacts through restoration or conservation projects. Given the increase in legislation requiring resource-based environmental compensation, methods for scaling an appropriate quantity and quality of resources is of increasing relevance. I argue that Equivalency Analysis (EA) represents a transparent and quantitative approach for scaling compensation in the case of wind power development. Herein, I identify the economic underpinnings of environmental compensation legislation and identify weaknesses in current scaling approaches within wind power development. I demonstrate how the recently-completed REMEDE Toolkit, which provides guidance on EA, can inform an improved scaling approach and summarize a case study involving raptor collisions with turbines that illustrates the EA approach. Finally, I stress the need for further contributions from the field of restoration ecology. The success of ex ante compensation in internalizing the environmental costs of wind development depends on the effective implementation of the environmental impacts hierarchy, which must effectively encourage avoidance and minimization over environmental restoration and repair.
The UK has an obligation, under various existing and proposed EU legislation (including the proposed water policy framework Directive), to derive environmental quality standards. These standards form the basis of the UK's pollution control strategy as adopted in national legislation, and the Regulatory Authorities need them as operational standards for setting consents. The paper outlines the procedure which is currently used in the UK for the derivation of these standards for the protection of the aquatic environment.
Environmental impact assessment allows for compensation of environmental injuries in the form of resource‐based restoration projects. Given that compensation is a desired policy at a given site, this study suggests an interdisciplinary scaling method (Resource Equivalency Analysis) that relies on a non‐monetary bird‐year metric to quantify and value the impact on human welfare from ecosystem service loss. The lost value associated with white‐tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) turbine collisions at the Smøla wind‐power plant (debit) in central Norway is compensated through white‐tailed eagle electrocution‐prevention measures at nearby power lines (credit), scaled using the same bird‐year metric. We found that 172 actual and projected white‐tailed eagle turbine collisions (2005–2027) led to a debit of 3,454 discounted bird‐years, which captures lost life expectancy discounted to present value. Field searches indicated that annual white‐tailed eagle electrocution mortality per electric distribution pole (or pylon) at Smøla ranges from 0.002 to 0.014 (2009–2011). We suggest that retrofitting between 348 and 2,209 pylons at a present‐value cost of US$1.2–7.9 million (2011 at 3%) will provide equivalent value and thus compensate the public for their welfare losses. Improved electrocution probability models will improve cost‐effectiveness of retrofitting as a compensatory measure. Although Resource Equivalency Analysis may provide an approach for scaling a biodiversity offset, it cannot address the inevitable environmental trade‐offs required in assessing the social profitability of choosing to compensate at a particular site. © 2013 The Wildlife Society.
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