Search

[Display omitted] Expanding the network of connected and resilient protected areas (PAs) for climate change adaptation can help species track suitable climate conditions and safeguard biodiversity. This is often overlooked when expanding PAs and quantifying their benefits, resulting in an underestimate of the benefits of expanding PAs. We expanded PAs through terrestrial mammalian species distribution hotspots, Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), and wilderness areas. Then, we constructed climate connectivity networks using a resistance-based approach and further quantified the network resilience to propose resilient climate response strategies in China. The results showed that existing PAs suffered from location biases with important biodiversity areas. The existing PAs represented about half of the KBAs and wilderness areas, yet only 12.08% of terrestrial mammalian species distribution hotspots were located within existing PAs. Compared with the existing PA network, the network efficiency and resilience of the expanded PAs' climate connectivity increased to 1.80 times and 1.78 times, respectively. With 56% of the nodes remaining, the network efficiency of the expanded PAs was equivalent to that of the existing PAs with all nodes. The network resilience of preferentially protecting and restoring low human footprint patches was approximately 1.5–2 times that of the random scenario. These findings highlighted that confronted with the unoptimistic situation of global warming, nature conservation based on existing PAs was no longer optimal. It was critical to construct a connected and resilient conservation network relying on both important biodiversity areas and low human footprint patches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The new species Moraea saxatilis is described. • Local endemic of the Groot Winterhoek Wilderness Area. • Illustrated by colour photographs. • Distinguished from other species in ser. Galaxia by terete leaves with translucent dorsal line and pale mauve perianth. The new species Moraea saxatilis Goldblatt & J.C.Manning (Iridaceae: Iridoideae) is a narrow endemic of the Kliphuisvlakte above Porterville in Western Cape, South Africa. First recorded in September 2019, M. saxatilis is restricted to shallow, seasonally waterlogged soils on sandstone sheets. This diminutive species has unusual terete leaves with a median dorsal translucent line, and distinctive pale lilac flowers irregularly speckled or streaked with dark blue towards the centre, with the filaments ±free or connate only in the basal third. The acaulescent habit and ±campanulate flowers with subequal tepals connate below in a solid perianth tube and reduced style crests place the species in subg. Galaxia (Thunb.) Goldblatt & J.C.Manning. Within the subgenus, the fringed style branches of M. saxatilis place it in ser. Galaxia , which currently includes nine species, all with white or yellow flowers. Among these, only M. luteoalba has ±free filaments but it differs considerably from M. saxatilis in having plane, ovate to elliptic leaves and larger yellow flowers sometimes creamy white distally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The wilderness was identified using Boolean overlay and multi-criteria evaluation methods. • The connectivity of the wilderness network was evaluated based on the identified wilderness as ecological sources. • Wilderness network can strengthen the network of nature reserves. • Constructing a wilderness network helps to select rewilding areas. • Enhancing the stability of the wilderness network is a strategy to address landscape fragmentation. Wilderness areas provide important ecosystem services for human being, and as crucial habitats for diverse species. Human activities have led to the fragmentation of wilderness landscapes, posing a significant challenge to biodiversity conservation. Identifying wilderness areas and assessing their network connectivity is fundamental for developing strategies to address this fragmentation. This study used Zhejiang Province, China, which is in the process of rapid urbanization as a case study. We identified the spatial distribution of wilderness by combing the index system and its weights of wilderness identification, using Boolean superposition analysis and the multi-criteria evaluation method, and tested the ecological sensitivity. Additionally, the connectivity of the wilderness network was assessed using the wilderness identification results in Zhejiang Province as ecological sources. The results indicate that: (1) 50% of Zhejiang Province still maintains relatively good wilderness integrity. (2) The wilderness network can cover 82% of highly fragmented habitats and currently unallocated potential natural reserves. (3) In areas not designated as nature reserves but experiencing frequent species movement as well as in identified wilderness regions, robust wilderness networks may play a crucial role in biodiversity conservation. The findings provide quantitative evidence for biodiversity-oriented wilderness network protection and landscape fragmentation management. The results also aid in selecting specific areas for rewilding and ecological restoration, thereby enhancing the overall robustness of the wilderness network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Priority areas for process-oriented conservation are mapped for the Alpine Space region. • We compare an ecoregional with a conventional approach to identify priority areas. • Priority areas are identified based on the wilderness quality index. • Ecoregion-based priority areas cover greater ecosystem- and species-level diversity. • Both wilderness protection and rewilding are needed across different ecoregions. Amidst the global decline in biodiversity, there are growing calls for more ambitious conservation targets and practices, including a renewed focus on protecting and restoring natural processes. However, little is known about suitable areas for process-oriented conservation and its different strategies. In this paper, we identify priority areas for process-oriented conservation following an ecoregion-based approach. Using the Alpine Space programme area as a pilot study area, a Wilderness Quality Index is calculated and mapped based on spatial indicators reflecting variations in naturalness, human impact, remoteness, and ruggedness. To identify priority areas for process-oriented conservation, the 10% of areas with the highest wilderness quality are identified for each ecoregion ('ecoregional approach') and compared with the identification of the 10% wildest areas of the entire study area ('conventional approach'). The results show significant differences in priority areas between the two approaches, with those identified by the ecoregional approach being of lower wilderness quality, more dispersed across the study region and different elevation classes, and smaller in size. The ecoregional approach results in a greater coverage of ecosystem- and species-level diversity, yet it highlights a greater need for complementing the protection of wilderness in less modified regions with rewilding initiatives and the expansion of the protected area network in ecoregions with significant human activity. Based on these findings, we discuss the potential and challenges that an ecoregion-based identification of priority areas brings for biodiversity conservation, protection and restoration practice, and local communities. The ecoregion-based approach and the findings of this study can inform initiatives under the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2030, in particular the target to 'strictly protect' 10% of the EU's land and sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The overlooked tourism pressure may cause new potential wilderness conflict zones. • Conflicts between tourism pressure and wilderness ecological value were mapped on a national scale. • Wilderness areas in China were characterized into 12 distinct landscape types. • The HH (high tourism pressure and high ecological values) conflict zones are mainly concentrated in the southeast of China. • 46.1% of HH conflict zones are solely subjected to tourist activities. Human activity has been significant driving force behind global declines in remaining wilderness areas. Previous assessments of human activity have focused on long-term cumulative human pressure. However, the growing popularity of nature-based tourism has led to increased tourists' footfall in remote wilderness areas. These short-term tourists' activities, if not assessed and properly restricted, may aggregate to form new potential impact zones. This study maps the potential conflicts between tourism pressure and wilderness' ecological value on a national scale across China. By comparing distribution of conflict zones created through persistent human and tourism pressure, we identify wilderness areas threatened by pressures from tourism. Employing a Self Organizing Maps algorithm, we extract distinctive landscape features of wilderness areas, thereby shedding light on their attraction to visitors and subsequent ecological vulnerability. Our results show that, about two-thirds of China's land is identified as wilderness with 12 types of landscape character, among which 8.9% of wilderness areas suffer from some level of tourism pressure. Moreover, 80.3% of HH (high tourism pressure and high ecological values) conflict zones are concentrated in the southeast of China. Finally, 46.1% of HH conflict zones are unaffected by persistent human activities but are threatened by tourist activities. Our findings contribute to future placement and functional zoning of wilderness reserves in China, with potential applicability to conflict governance and wilderness conservation strategies in other developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies show the benefits of wilderness to humans and the environment. Therefore, preserving and developing wilderness areas within urban settings are crucial to combat and mitigate challenges like biodiversity decline resulting from urbanization. According to previous studies, human-wilderness interactions can be contradictory, e.g., relaxing while feeling anxious and insecure. How individuals perceive and comprehend intentional urban wilderness, what dimensions contribute to their perceptions, and how these dimensions influence the visitors' perceptions remain to be investigated. Selecting Jiangyangfan Ecological Park (Hangzhou, China) as a survey case, this research investigates if and how people perceive intentionally incorporated and designed urban wilderness and how various dimensions of attributes shape their perceptions. This study identified three dimensions that may contribute to visitors' perceptions of the urban wilderness; namely, cognitive landscape attributes, perceived environmental attributes, and their visitation experience. A mixed-method approach was employed using a questionnaire, mental maps, and environmental behaviour observation as diverse data sources to assess visitors' urban wilderness perceptions and comprehension from the three dimensions. Results indicate a high propensity to visit the park as an urban wilderness. Our findings also revealed that visitors' perceptual environmental attributes, e.g., the existence of vegetation and waterbodies and encounters with wild animals, as well as their visit experiences, e.g., their satisfaction with the visit and their motivation for experiencing nature, significantly influence their perceptions. In contrast, prior knowledge and experience-based cognition of urban wilderness attributes showed no significant influence on their perceptions. Moreover, attributes like plant diversity, water visibility, and plant density emerged as critical factors shaping visitors' perceptions. These findings underscore the importance of considering visitors' on-site perception of environmental attributes and actual visit experience when assessing the value and acceptability of urban wilderness areas. Future implications of this study for urban wilderness planning and management were also discussed. • Study combines questionnaire, mental maps, and behavioural observation. • Results indicate visitors' great willingness to experience the urban wilderness. • Physical environmental attributes strongly influence urban wilderness perceptions. • Prior experience insignificantly influences urban wilderness perceptions. • Plant diversity, water bodies, and plant density critically shape perceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wilderness is of great value and conservation significance. An in-depth understanding of the evolution of the spatial distribution of wilderness conditions in China and the factors influencing them is crucial for biodiversity conservation and restoration. However, the evolution of its spatial and temporal patterns and the factors influencing them have been little explored in studies of wilderness. In this study, the Weighted Linear Combination model was utilized to assess the quality of wilderness in China over the past 20 years, and the geographic detector model assessed the key factors that have influenced wilderness. The study results indicate that (1) Over the past 20 years, the western wilderness has worsened, while the eastern and central regions have seen some improvement. (2) Changes in wilderness quality are mainly influenced by the temperature and the distribution of nature reserves. (3) High wilderness quality areas are mainly influenced by actual evapotranspiration and temperature, while population density and GDP play a dominant role in most medium and low wilderness quality areas. (4) Interacting factors are greater than any single factor affecting wilderness. The results of the study can provide a reference for the conservation and management of wilderness resources and biodiversity in China. [Display omitted] • Wilderness quality improved in >60% of Chinese provinces, but declined in Xizang (45.3%) and Xinjiang (50.8%). • Changes in wilderness quality are mainly influenced by the temperature and nature reserves distribution. • The dominant factors affecting wilderness quality differ depending on the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human activities adjacent to protected areas have been intensifying as human population grows, with protected areas in some regions effectively becoming islands within a sea of human development. Studies examining the effects of forest harvesting and deforestation on the biodiversity of adjacent protected areas have primarily focused on study areas within the tropics. Due to concerns about impacts of low-retention or clearcut harvesting on biodiversity in adjacent protected areas, the province of Nova Scotia implemented interim harvesting guidelines adjacent to all parks and protected areas in 2019. To examine the effectiveness of these guidelines, we designed a study to quantify the relative influence of previous clearcut harvesting immediately adjacent to Cloud Lake Wilderness Area based on changes in bird communities along transects beginning 100 m inside clearcuts and extending 300 m into the protected area. Ordinations revealed clear differences in the bird communities among transect points; clearcut and edge bird communities differed significantly from those 200 and 300 m inside the protected area and those 100 m inside the protected area comprised of a blend of species from the other 4 transect point locations. Overall species richness and many individual species abundances reflected this pattern as well - 13 species with clear responses across transect point locations were intermediate in abundance at sites 100 m into the protected area. The weight of evidence from our study supports other research showing that the zone of influence from clearcut harvesting on passerine birds in adjacent forest is at least 100 m for many species. These results suggest that a minimum harvesting and development buffer adjacent to protected areas of between 100 and 200 m would be a reasonable management approach if the objective is to minimize the effects of these activities on the bird communities within protected areas. To determine if a partial harvest within the buffer would maintain biodiversity within a protected area will require additional research that directly compares the influence of partial harvesting to no-harvest prescriptions on a variety of taxa. Additional studies in other protected areas that vary in size and have dissimilar landscape contexts, habitat conditions, and bird communities could provide further insight. • Human activities adjacent to protected areas (PAs) have been intensifying. • We quantified the influence of clearcut harvesting on bird communities in PAs. • There were clear differences in the bird communities among transect locations. • The influence of clearcut harvesting was greater than 100 m for many species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of an increasingly severe ecological crisis and accelerating ecological civilization construction, the specific regional differences as well as the natural environment of China restrict the uniform population distribution and the social economy's spatial layout, forming a large and widely distributed wilderness. The post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) takes the protection of wilderness areas as one of the key conservation goals and brings new opportunities for wilderness protection. Objective and accurate identification of the spatial range of wilderness and the determination of the focus of wilderness protection are significant for carrying out resource and environmental carrying capacity evaluations, biodiversity conservation, and national park system construction. At present, fewer studies pay attention to wilderness area identification and protection in China. In this study, we used the MaxEnt and Marxan models to establish a framework to identify the spatial distribution and conservation priorities of China's wilderness as well as guide wilderness conservation. The wilderness areas in China show a large-scale, concentrated distribution in space and a small, scattered distribution. From 2000 to 2020, the wilderness area decreased from 3.6323 million km2 in 2000 to 2.9142 million km2 in 2020, and the wilderness area reduction rate from 2000 to 2010 was greater than that in 2010–2020. From 2000 to 2020, the center of gravity of the wilderness area shifted 893.5 km to the southwest. Wilderness center of gravity relocated from Pingluo County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region to Delingha City, Qinghai Province. Considering conservation objectives and conservation costs, we determined that the wilderness area in urgent need of protection is 55,100 km2, accounting for 1.8 % of the total wilderness area. It is mainly distributed in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (13,000 km2), Yunnan Province (12,000 km2), and Sichuan Province (5300 km2). This methodological framework can provide an important reference for governments in dealing with global climate change, maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem diversity, and promoting sustainable human development. [Display omitted] • A research framework was proposed to identify wilderness areas in China. • Wilderness areas was identified based on determinants and influencing factors. • Wilderness degree was determined by using MaxEnt model. • Priority protected areas of wilderness were identified using Marxan model. • From 2000 to 2020, the wilderness area showed a gradually decreasing trend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• RWV have the potential to quantify urban ecosystem service capability (ESC) • In Shandong province, there is a significant spatial correlation between RWV and ESC. • PD is a key wilderness indicator that explains changes in RWV and ESC. • CS, HQ, and RD are key indicators in high-quality wilderness. Wilderness has proven to provide a wide range of ecosystem services (ES). Wilderness have been shown to play an important role in preserving biodiversity and providing ES, which is indispensable to both nature and people. It is essential to integrate ES quantification into wilderness conservation and management. This study presents a method that combines the wilderness mapping and ecological indicators to measure ES of wilderness. The method was applied in 155,800 km2 of Shandong province in China, across 23 types of land use. First, relative wilderness value (RWV) and ecosystem service capability (ESC) were quantified according to Weighted Linear Combination (WLC). Then, spatial autocorrelation between RWV and ESC were tested and analyzed using GeoDa software. Finally, the Redundancy analysis was used to investigate the primary drivers of RWV and ESC in different landscape types. The findings showed that, there were 27,263 km2 of wilderness in Shandong province, of which 6,294 km2 were high-quality wilderness. The region with the highest RWV was the Yellow River Delta (RWV = 0.82), and the area with the highest ESC was Laoshan Mountain (ESC = 0.76). Spatial autocorrelation analysis showed a positive correlation between RWV and ESC (Pearson's r = 0.637), both of which had significant spatial relevance (Moran's I = 0.589, P < 0.005). The RWV and ESC high-high clusters were found to cover 5,223 km2 of high-quality wilderness areas. Regression analysis (R2 = 0.744) showed that RWV can quantify ESC of urban area reliably. Population density (Explaining 33.9 %-49.3 %) was found to be a key indicator of RWV and ESC changes through the Redundancy analysis. In addition, we discussed key drivers of RWV and ESC of high-quality wilderness according to different landscape types. This approach can be used and adopted to support planning decisions dealing with wilderness conservation and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An understanding of the trends and causes of wilderness change is critical in supporting wilderness conservation. However, quantitative measurement of the driving mechanisms of wilderness area changes with incorporation of spatial heterogeneity remains a challenge. An integrated wilderness mapping method was employed in this study, with Fujian Province, one of China's first Ecological Civilization Pilot Areas, serving as a case study, to identify the recent spatial distribution and the land-use change matrix of wilderness area changes in the densely populated southeast coastal regions of China. We investigated the potential drivers of changes in wilderness areas from three perspectives: anthropogenic activities and socioeconomics, natural environment, and protected areas management policies, and captured spatial variations using a Multi-Scale Geographically Weighted Regression model (MGWR). The area and quality of wilderness areas showed a decreasing trend from 2000 to 2020, with area decreasing by an average 3.63% annually and wilderness degradation being especially severe from 2010 to 2020. The loss of wilderness areas is influenced by multiple drivers, and under the influence of spatial heterogeneity, different drivers on wilderness areas have a cross-scale spatial character. Human activities and economic development are dominant in driving wilderness degradation and can exert pressure at a large scale. Protected areas may mitigate wilderness loss in the region, but wilderness near protected areas may face greater threats. Natural factors such as vegetation, precipitation and elevation have ambivalent effects, and in some area's climate change may interact with human activities to exacerbate wilderness loss. Compared with global regression and geographically weighted regression models, MGWR produces more realistic results in modeling the relationship between wilderness area changes and potential drivers. This study provides a new perspective for wilderness research, reveals the complex mechanisms of change in wilderness areas, and provides important guidance for global wilderness conservation efforts as well as a reference point for exploring the synergistic interaction between economic development and natural conservation in the densely populated southeast coastal regions of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To counteract the threat of global warming, many nations have resorted to increasing their use of renewable energy sources, wind farms being among the most popular. The greatest obstacle when it comes to the acceptance of wind farms is their visual impact. Recently, tourism has become Iceland's largest export sector, the country's natural landscape being the main attraction for visitors. This paper attempts to compare the perception of residents and tourists towards wind energy production in general and towards Iceland's first proposed wind farm, to be located at the edge of the country's uninhabited interior Central Highlands. The study is based on a questionnaire survey conducted among residents living adjacent to the proposed wind farm and among tourists travelling through the proposed area. The results indicate that residents are more positive than tourists towards wind turbines and consider them less intrusive in the landscape. Hence, the location of Iceland's first wind farm at the main gateway into the country's Central Highlands is problematic and likely to disturb the experience of tourists passing through the area. Despite the wealth of wind in Iceland it might be challenging to utilize it for energy production due to the importance of nature-based tourism for the economy. If Iceland becomes a physical exporter of renewable energy, it may be expected that more pressure will be set on the construction of wind farms. Thereby nature-based tourism and wind energy would be in direct competition over land use. • Wind turbines reduce the naturalness of a landscape and the quality of wilderness. • Residents and tourists consider landscape without power plant infrastructure more beautiful. • Tolerance level towards landscape change is higher among residents than tourists. • Economic reasons are likely to influence residents' opinion on wind energy production. • A wind farm in the Southern Highlands of Iceland poses a threat to the tourism industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • We established an wilderness indicator which was based on regularly updated data. • We developed practical wilderness mapping procedure for long-term monitoring. • The wilderness degree of an anthropogenic landscape (i.e. Beijing) has been evaluated by using varied reporting units. • The integrated wilderness mapping approach is useful for assisting the implementation of Major Function Oriented Zone Plan. Abstract Optimization of the use of land resources is vital for nature conservation in spatial planning, especially for rapid urbanizing regions. On this regard, China has officially announced the "Major Function Oriented Zone (MFOZ)" plan, which aims to achieve a coordinated regional development by dividing the whole territory into four types of regions (prohibited, restrictive, optimal, and important development regions). In this study, an integrated index of landscape wilderness is proposed and calculated on a standard grid map with consideration of perceived naturalness of land covers, fragmentation effect of traffic network, and distance from human disturbance sources. Different report units (e.g. administrative districts, major function oriented zones) are applied for evaluating the intensity of human impacts in an intensively modified landscape (i.e. Beijing, the capital city of China). Our results show that the average wilderness degree of Beijing has slightly decreased from 2007 to 2015, but with internal variation. The wilderness values of districts located at the mountainous area are generally higher than plain area. A large overlap (over 99%) between high wilderness area and prohibited/restrictive development regions has been observed, and the negative impacts from human disturbances in prohibited/restrictive development regions are much smaller than in optimal/important development regions. However, in the north part of Beijing some relatively wilder areas do not show high congruence with MFOZ plan. The results have proved the applicability of this mapping approach, which can be useful for assisting the implementation of MFOZ plan, especially in a multi-temporal monitoring process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Wilderness is vitally important: ecologically, economically, socially and culturally, yet it continues to decline globally. Despite high human modification and fragmentation in European landscapes, studies assessing wilderness in Europe suggest the presence of substantial areas of wilderness in mountainous areas. Following a European resolution, the importance of remaining wilderness areas has recently been recognised and efforts towards mapping and protecting remaining wildernesses have increased. The central Alps lie within Switzerland and have been identified in multiple studies as a potential wilderness hotspot in Europe. In this study we develop robust, objective indicators to quantify wilderness and apply them to Switzerland. The indicators account for varying perceptions of wilderness and were evaluated by experts. Assessing international expert opinion to define indicator weightings has not been carried out in similar studies in the past, but serves as a transparent, objective and reproducible approach. The indicators identified high quality wilderness areas, mostly at higher elevations, and demonstrate a suitable method for assessing remaining wilderness areas in landscapes subjected to large modifications by human activities. The spatial distribution of wilderness in the case study region Switzerland suggest that it may play an important role in wilderness conservation in Europe. Our study provides essential baseline information for wilderness monitoring, planning and protection, upon which future studies can build. Above this it provides robust, objective and adaptable indicators for wilderness quantification, which can be implemented in other countries and across various spatial scales. The method can be adapted for other countries – through the use of local expert opinions to weight indicators, and regions – with the inclusion of further datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Stand-replacing fire threatens the persistence of dry conifer forests in the western US. • The prevalence of stand-replacing fire since 1985 is much higher compared to the historical reference period (∼1600–1875). • The prevalence of contemporary stand-replacing fire in wilderness is slightly lower than in non-wilderness. • The prevalence of stand-replacing fire in the Gila Wilderness is much lower than that observed in the broader ecoregion. • Fire will continue to erode the extent of dry conifer forests unless they are restored to conditions resilient to stand-replacing fire. Dry conifer forests in the western US historically experienced frequent fire prior to European American colonization. Mean fire return interval ranged from about 5–35 years, with the majority of fires burning at low-to-moderate severity. The arrival of European Americans initiated notable reductions in fire frequency through the cessation of Indigenous burning, livestock grazing, and fire suppression. These activities effectively excluded fire from most dry conifer forests, thereby allowing live and dead fuels to accumulate. There are concerns that this fuel accumulation is causing contemporary fires (since 1985) to burn more severely compared to pre-colonization time periods, thereby increasing potential for enduring fire-catalyzed conversions to non-forest. Here, we used satellite-derived fire severity data to characterize the prevalence of contemporary (1985–2020) stand-replacing fire in dry conifer forests within four broad ecoregions for all fires, non-wilderness fires, wilderness fires, and prescribed fires. Our results indicate, that as a proportion of area burned, contemporary fires experienced 2.9 to 13.6 times more stand-replacing fire (depending on the ecoregion) compared to the pre-colonization period. Non-wilderness areas exhibit somewhat higher prevalence of stand-replacing fire, relative to the historical fire regime, than wilderness areas (where logging is prohibited). The relatively small difference between non-wilderness and wilderness suggests that fuel accumulation resulting from fire exclusion has played a larger role than historical logging activities on the prevalence of contemporary stand-replacing fire. Prescribed fires do not exhibit a higher prevalence of stand-replacing fire compared to the historical fire regime. We conducted a parallel analysis in the Gila Wilderness in New Mexico, USA, is it is arguably the best example of an unrestrained fire regime (many fires are not suppressed) in western US dry conifer forests. The Gila Wilderness proportionally experienced only 1.8 times more stand-replacing fire compared to the historical reference period; in contrast, the southwest ecoregion experienced 5.9 times more stand-replacing fire. Fire will inevitably burn a given forest no matter how much money and personnel we commit to fire prevention and suppression, and because of the high prevalence of stand-replacing fire, the long-term persistence of dry conifer forests is jeopardized. Unless forest managers are provided the social license and enabling conditions to substantially accelerate efforts to restore conditions resistant to stand-replacing fire, we anticipate that the extent of dry conifer forests will continue to erode as fire-catalyzed conversions increasingly unfold across the western US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The National Wilderness Preservation System in the United States provides the greatest level of protection for the ecological and social values of lands held in trust for future generations. Although designated wilderness is the cornerstone of the US conservation portfolio, designation alone doesn't assure the protection of these areas, which are degraded by threats both inside and external to the area. This paper describes new methods for quantifying the location and cumulative magnitude of threats to wilderness, allowing agency managers and the public to evaluate whether the legal mandate from the 1964 Wilderness Act to "preserve wilderness character" is being upheld. These new methods have also been used in developing wilderness stewardship plans and analyzing the potential effects of proposed projects that would degrade wilderness character. The methods described here were developed and tested in seven wildernesses in a variety of ecological, geographic, and administrative settings, and are directly applicable to evaluating threats and improving the management of all 110 million acres of designated wilderness in the United States, as well as all areas that are increasingly recognized internationally as wilderness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Knoxville Urban Wilderness (KUW) in Eastern Tennessee is part of a larger global trend of acquiring vacant lands within urban landscapes for their natural habitat and recreation value. At 688 ha, the KUW is one of the largest urban wilderness areas in the United States, consisting of loosely-connected land parcels with multiple stakeholders including state, county, and city governments and private foundations. Here we use the KUW as a case study to address critical questions of management that arise for most urban wilderness projects globally: What should these areas be managed for, and how should they be managed? How can multiple stakeholders be efficiently organized to pool their resources most effectively. The KUW is currently used mainly for recreation and its potential for biodiversity conservation and education and ecosystem services is largely unutilized. As a way to promote and manage this unused potential, we began the first ecological inventory, compiling existing data and conducting biodiversity and invasive plant surveys with citizen scientists. We found that the KUW harbors a significant number of plant (250) and bird (193) species, with many other taxa also identified. We also found widespread infestation of invasive plants for which we provide management suggestions. A preliminary visitor survey shows that most visitors (about two-thirds) are from the immediate vicinity, mainly for walking (74.4%) or biking (19.9%). The vast majority (93.7%) of visitors do not want more vegetation management or removal and 98.3% of visitors would like to see the KUW expanded in area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fir forests (Abies , Pinaceae) are dominant in temperate regions of North America; however, they have experienced high degradation rates that can threaten their long-term continuity. This study aimed to identify the priority areas for the conservation of the genus Abies in North America. First, we modeled the species distribution of the 17 native species through ecological niche modeling, considering 21 environmental variables. Then, we defined the priority areas through multi-criteria analysis, considering the species richness, geographic rareness, irreplaceability, habitat degradation, and risk extinction. We also built six scenarios, giving more priority to each criterion. Finally, we identified the proportion of the extent of the priority areas covered by protected areas. Elevation, precipitation seasonality, and winter precipitation influenced the distribution of most of the Abies species. When considering equal weights to each criterion, the priority areas summed up 6% of the total extent covered by the Abies species in North America. Most priority areas were located on the West Coast of the United States, the Eastern Sierra Madre, Southern Sierra Madre, Sierras of Chiapas and Central America, and the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt ecoregions. In these ecoregions, the Abies species are restricted to small areas facing high degradation levels. Only 16% of the area covered by the Abies species in North America is protected, mainly under restrictive schemes such as National Parks and Wilderness Areas. The priority areas identified could be the basis for establishing or enlarging protected areas. The preservation of the genus Abies could also maintain other ecological features and processes such as biodiversity, forest resources, and environmental services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ‘wildland–urban interface’ (WUI) is a term commonly used to describe areas where wildfires and the built environment have the potential to interact resulting in loss of properties and potential loss of life. Significant residential losses associated with wildland interface fires have occurred worldwide in recent years and substantial research has been conducted on developing numerical models of ignition due to convection and ember attacks. These studies provide substantial insight into the behaviour and growth of wildland fires, which have been further utilized to build fire exposure rating of structures. The FireWise program in the United States and the FireSmart manual in Canada are two key examples of provisions developed for determining fire exposure ratings for a structure. While previous studies provide significant contribution to modelling fire propagation, a much more comprehensive model is required, which would encompass all the key variables associated with WUI fires. This paper aims at extending previously conducted efforts by developing a simulation-based model. A typical fire propagation simulation requires solving the coupled fluid-thermal differential equations which results in extreme run times making it unsuitable for general purposes, however the model in this study utilizes theory of cellular automata, which reduces the processing times substantially by simplifying the underlying equations involved. Cellular automata utilize a specific set of rules to model propagation by convection as well as ember travel. In addition, the model also considers key parameters such as humidity, nature of vegetation and topology while evaluating the propagation paths. Due to the flexible nature of the model its accuracy can be tuned to a certain extent by optimizing the propagation rules using real-event data [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wildfires have become an increasingly important issue in central Texas as more people move to the wildland-urban interface. Although mitigation can reduce the risk of damage from wildfire, not all homeowners choose to mitigate. Using the area surrounding the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve wildlands in Austin, Texas as a case study, this research examined the factors that lead to homeowners' decisions to or not to mitigate for wildfires. In particular, this study examined the difference between behavioral intention and behavior relating to wildfire mitigation. Study methods included a mail survey of residents living in subdivisions adjacent to the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve wildlands. This study adopted the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as the conceptual framework to explain homeowners' behaviors and intentions. Statistical analysis was performed on survey responses relating to the conceptual variables in the TPB model. The Intention model indicated that Attitude was the most important variable (40.6% of total variance) relating to Intention, followed by Subjective Norm (10.1%), and Behavioral Control (1.3%). Risk Perception and Residency explained an additional 2.2% of the total variance. The Behavior models indicated that only Intention and Subjective Norm were predictors for Mitigation Behavior 1 (keeping gutters and roof free of leaves, needles, and branches), only Intention and Behavioral Control were predictors for Mitigation Behavior 2 (keeping tree limbs pruned at least 10 feet from the roof), and only Intention was a predictor for Mitigation Behavior 3 (keeping dead vegetation cleared within 30 feet of the house). The models explained 52.4% of the variance in performance of Mitigation Behavior 1, 38.9% in Mitigation Behavior 2, and 42.2% in Mitigation Behavior 3. The models were better at predicting respondents who did perform mitigation behaviors compared with those who did not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Okavango Delta is a vast wetland wilderness in the middle of the Kalahari Desert of Botswana. It is a largely closed hydrological system with most water leaving the delta by evapotranspiration. In spite of this, the channels and swamps of the delta remain surprisingly low in salinity. To help understand the hydrological processes at work, we reanalyzed a previous inversion of data collected from a helicopter transient electromagnetic (HTEM) survey of the entire delta and performed an inversion of a high resolution dataset recorded during the same survey. Our results show widespread infiltration of fresh water to as much as ∼200 m depth into the regional saline aquifer. Beneath the western delta, freshwater infiltration extends to only about 80 m depth. Hydrological modeling with SEAWAT confirms that this may be due to rebound of the regional saltwater–freshwater interface following the cessation of surface flooding over this part of the delta in the 1880s. Our resistivity models also provide evidence for active and inactive saltwater fingers to as much as ∼100 m beneath islands. These results demonstrate the great extent of freshwater infiltration across the delta and also show that all vegetated areas along the delta's channels and swamps are potential locations for transferring solutes from surface water to an aquifer at depth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managers of protected natural areas seek to protect their natural conditions while providing opportunities for recreational visitation. Camping is an essential element of backcountry and wilderness recreation for a variety of protected natural areas in the U.S. and internationally. Furthermore, overnight visitors to protected areas spend a substantial portion of their time on campsites so their behaviors determine the nature and extent of resource impacts, and the quality of their recreational experiences can be affected by campsite conditions. The U.S. Forest Service manages nearly 2000 designated campsites in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. This research assessed resource conditions on 81 wilderness campsites and paired undisturbed controls in 1982 and 2014 to quantify long-term ecological changes. A comprehensive array of physical, vegetative, and soil indicators were measured to identify long-term trends over 32 years of continuous campsite use. Our findings reveal substantial changes in area of vegetation cover, exposed soil, and soil erosion on campsites. Although mean campsite size is unchanged, the proportion of campsite area in the “core” has decreased, shifting some use and impact into peripheral “satellite” tenting areas just beyond campsite borders. The ecology of campsites has been significantly altered by a large reduction in number and cover of campsite trees. The number of campsite trees decreased by 44% from 1982 to 2014. Visitors are cutting both on- and off-site trees for firewood, and tree seedlings are rarely able to germinate and survive due to visitor activity. These findings reveal that older campsites are not stable. Long-term camping impacts that are ecologically, managerially, and experientially meaningful are occurring; these impacts could be minimized through more sustainable management practices. These include selecting more resistant sites, such as those with resistant rocky shorelines, and sloping terrain that constrains campsite expansion. Construction and maintenance of tenting sites can attract and spatially concentrate camping impact. Actions to halt tree cutting are also critical. Heavy long-term visitation in protected natural areas requires more sustainable and intensive visitor impact management actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this systematic review was to determine if sock, antiperspirant, or barrier strategies were effective in prevention of friction blisters in wilderness and outdoor pursuits. A search of PubMed and EMBASE was conducted. Title, abstract, and full text articles were screened by 2 authors using predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria to identify prospective controlled trials investigating prevention methods for friction blisters involving the foot. Only blisters associated with wilderness and outdoor pursuits (running, hiking, marching, etc.) were considered. Extraction of a predetermined data set was accomplished using a piloted form. Confidence in effect estimates were determined utilizing the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network methodology checklist. Literature search resulted in 806 discrete articles. After screening, 11 studies were identified for inclusion in systematic review. Included studies investigated 5 sock, 3 antiperspirant, and 3 barrier strategies. Only 2 articles were determined to have moderate confidence in effect estimate. Clinical and methodologic diversity precluded meta-analysis. Despite the high frequency, discomfort, and associated cost there is a paucity of high-quality quality evidence in support of socks, antiperspirants, or barriers for the prevention of friction blisters. Moderate confidence in effect estimate suggests that paper tape may be an effective form of barrier prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mountains are home to numerous organisms known to cause skin disease. Bites, stings, poisons, chemicals, toxins, trauma, and infections all contribute to this end. Numerous plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, viruses, and protozoa are responsible. This paper aims to review skin illness and injury sustained from organisms in the mountains of North America. Other factors such as increased ultraviolet radiation, temperature extremes, and decreasing atmospheric pressure along with human physiologic parameters, which contribute to disease severity, will also be discussed. After reading this review, one should feel more comfortable identifying potentially harmful organisms, as well as diagnosing, treating, and preventing organism-inflicted skin pathology sustained in the high country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maintaining wild places increasingly involves intensive human interventions. Several recent projects use semi-automated mediating technologies to enact conservation and restoration actions, including re-seeding and invasive species eradication. Could a deep-learning system sustain the autonomy of nonhuman ecological processes at designated sites without direct human interventions? We explore here the prospects for automated curation of wild places, as well as the technical and ethical questions that such co-creation poses for ecologists, conservationists, and designers. Our goal is to foster innovative approaches to creating and maintaining the autonomy of evolving ecological systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the relationships between people’s affinity for solitude and solitude preference in natural environments to determine whether solitude experienced in natural environments is an outcome of people’s affinity for solitude or vice versa. Data was collected from college students to measure their affinity for solitude and solitude preference in natural environments. We tested two competing hypotheses by examining the standardized estimates of path coefficients between latent factors. Results indicated that the measure of affinity for solitude was not a significant predictor of solitude preference in the natural environments; while solitude preference in the natural environments contributed to the formation of affinity for solitude, β = 0.269, SE = 0.062, t-value = 5.891, p < 0.001. Study findings will benefit landscaping and local park management by providing useful information about how people view and use natural environments as a place for being alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global efforts to protect biodiversity have fallen short and global threats, including energy development, are prevalent. Assessing impacts of energy development helps determine if protected areas, particularly wilderness areas, can conserve biodiversity, natural habitats, and sustain ecological processes inherent in ecosystems. We quantified the amount of energy development around wilderness areas, evaluated rate of change in energy development, assessed if nearby public land provides a safeguard from energy development, and identified wilderness areas surrounded by the most energy development. We compiled national and regional data on non-renewable and renewable energy development. Across all wilderness areas, 52.8 % had ≥1 power plant or coal mine nearby. More renewable energy power plants occur around wilderness areas than non-renewable. Among all energy leases, oil and gas and wind power leases occur most often around wilderness areas. During 1990–2015, the number of oil and gas wells around wilderness areas increased by 43.5 %. Wilderness areas surrounded by >75 % public land were as likely to have a power plant or coal mine nearby as those with <25 % public land. Wilderness areas ranked highest for number of power plants or coal mines nearby occurred mostly (77 %) in the western U.S. With the continued demand for energy, wilderness areas will continue to be influenced by energy development. Our research can inform the stewardship of wilderness areas and shows that despite their remote location and strong legal protection, wilderness areas are threatened by the increasing presence of energy development in surrounding lands. • We quantified amount and expansion of energy development around U.S. wildernesses. • 52.8 % of all wilderness areas has ≥1 power plant or coal mine within 20 km. • During 1990–2015, oil and gas wells around wildernesses increased by 43.5 %. • More renewable energy power plants occur near wilderness areas than non-renewable. • Wildernesses are threatened by the increasing presence of energy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expression proposed a half century ago by Byram allowing the estimation of wild land fire front heat flux was extensively used in fire research and by firefighters. However, this formula does not account for wild land fuel heterogeneity and local weather changes. Its validity is limited to stationary spreads, and fails in describing the behavior of curved fronts and non-spreading fires. A new formula is derived to generalize heat flux estimation to any fire front with arbitrary geometry. Heat flux is found to depend on the front local radius as well as its convexity/concavity. The front curvature induces also a quadratic dependence on the rate of spread. The derived equation is validated by numerical simulations using the small world network model for line and curved fronts. Extensions of generalized Byram formula including fractal dimension of the front and wind speed effect are also proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Burns are a common source of injuries worldwide, with a high burden of disease in low- and middle-income countries. Burns also account for 2%-8% of wilderness injuries. Although many are minor, the potential for serious morbidity and mortality exists, and standard treatments used in high-resource settings are not readily available in the backcountry. A literature review was performed to find evidence from low-resource settings that supports alternative or improvised therapies that may be adapted to care of burns in the wilderness. There is good evidence for use of oral rehydration to support volume status in burn patients. There is moderate evidence to support cold therapy as first aid and adjunct for pain control. Some evidence supports use of alternative dressings such as boiled potato peel, banana leaf, aloe vera, honey, sugar paste, and papaya when standard therapies are not available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Compare the pressures measured by improvised irrigation techniques to a commercial device and to prior reports.Methods: Devices tested included a commercial 500-mL compressible plastic bottle with splash guard, a 10-mL syringe, a 10-mL syringe with a 14-ga angiocatheter (with needle removed), a 50-mL Sawyer syringe, a plastic bag punctured with a 14-ga needle, a plastic bottle with cap punctured by a 14-ga needle, a plastic bottle with sports top, and a bladder-style hydration system. Each device was leveled on a support, manually compressed, and aimed toward a piece of glass. A high-speed camera placed behind the glass recorded the height of the stream upon impact at its highest and lowest point. Measurements were recorded 5 times for each device. Pressures in pounds per square inch (psi) were calculated.Results: The syringe and angiocatheter pressures measured the highest pressures (16-49 psi). The 50-mL syringe (7-11 psi), 14-ga punctured water bottle (7-25 psi), and water bottle with sports top (3-7 psi) all measured at or above the commercial device (4-5 psi). Only the bladder-style hydration system (1-2 psi) and plastic bag with 14-ga needle puncture (2-3 psi) did not reach pressures generated by the commercial device.Conclusions: Pressures are consistent with those previously reported. All systems using compressible water bottles and all syringe-based systems provided pressures at or exceeding a commercial wound irrigation device. A 14-ga punctured plastic bag and bladder-style hydration pack failed to generate similar irrigation pressures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • We tested if nitrogen from vehicles entered plants in a protected wilderness valley. • Air NO 2 gradient matched traffic gradient along 35 km of road. • Vehicle-derived nitrogen in moss increased with traffic within and among years. • Conservation needs to consider effects of vehicle emissions on natural ecosystems. Public use of protected areas is typically encouraged, but visitors arriving by vehicles may alter the natural areas they seek. Vehicle emissions add nitrogen oxides (NO x) and ammonia (NH 3) to the air, which can increase the amount of plant-available (reactive) nitrogen, a limiting nutrient. Changes in ecosystem processes as a result of increases in nitrogen availability are at odds with the goals of many protected wilderness areas that are typically accessed by vehicles. In this multi-year study (2003–2019), we tested whether emissions from local vehicles entered the forest ecosystem adjacent to a highway in a protected wilderness valley near a mid-sized city (Calgary, Alberta, Canada). We examined the concentration of NO 2 in the air and the abundance of combustion-derived nitrogen isotopes (δ15N) in naturally-occurring forest moss (Hylocomium splendens and Pleurozium schreberi) within 20 m of the highway as a function of traffic levels that varied independently at two scales: along the highway and among years. Within the valley, we observed a gradient in the number of vehicles that was greatest where vehicles enter the valley, with a corresponding pattern for NO 2 concentrations in air. Traffic volume also varied among years, with the highest year having almost twice as many vehicles in the summer as the lowest year. δ15N values in forest moss displayed similar patterns as traffic both within and among years, signalling that nitrogen from vehicle emissions entered the local ecosystem corresponding to local traffic levels. Because vehicle emissions enter natural ecosystems that are intended to be conserved, vehicle use must be considered in the management of protected natural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As wildland fire activity continues to surge across the western US, it is increasingly important that we understand and quantify the environmental drivers of fire and how they vary across ecosystems. At daily to annual timescales, weather, fuels, and topography are known to influence characteristics such as area burned and fire severity. An understudied facet, however, concerns how these factors inhibit fire spread and thereby contribute to the formation of fire boundaries. We evaluated how weather, fuels, and topography impeded fire spread in four large study areas in the western US, three in the Northern Rockies and one in the Southwest. Weather and fuels were the most important factors in the Northern Rockies, whereas fuels and topography were dominant in the Southwest. Within the categories of weather, fuels, and topography, we also evaluated which specific variables were most influential in impeding fire spread. We explicitly accounted for the presence and age of previous burns within the fuels category. We found that: (1) temperature was the most influential weather variable in the Northern Rockies; (2) previous burns (particularly those that were ⩽5 years old) were moderately to highly influential in all study areas; and (3) valley bottoms and ridgetops were moderately to highly associated with fire boundaries in all study areas. Our results elucidate the regionally varying roles of weather, fuels, and topography in impeding fire spread, emphasizing each ecosystem’s unique biophysical setting and fire regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fisheries literature is undermined by incorrect use of essential legal concepts: (1) property; (2) rights; and (3) property rights. These three ideas are often conflated when the term “rights-based” is applied to fisheries in which individual transferable quotas (ITQs) have been gifted to fishing firms. The confusion then leads to misleading suppositions concerning fishing behavior. For instance, it is often presumed that a “right to fish” (alleged to be represented by an ITQ) is behaviorally analogous to an ownership interest in fish still in the water. This erroneous extension from alleged “ownership” of a quota share to alleged “ownership” of fish stocks gives rise to confusion about how to assure sustainable fisheries governance. Talk of “perfect property rights” associated with an ITQ ads to the conceptual confusion. It is imperative that policy makers understand the difference between an alleged right to hunt for fish (such as a fishing permit or an ITQ) and a property right with respect to fish remaining in the water. The necessary implication for public policy is that private ownership of a natural resource offers no assurance that the resource will be managed sustainably. In fact, the existence of public parks and wilderness areas is evidence that private interests cannot be counted on to align with public interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers how conservation litigation seeking to protect wilderness from degradation can overlook those living nearby or within it, even though the degradation also threatens residents. We use as a case study the controversial siting of a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) in a chronically impoverished, all-white community in the remote Arkansas Ozarks of the United States. Because the CAFO is at the cusp of federally protected wilderness, it attracted the attention of national conservation interests, who sued seeking the CAFO's closure. These events provide a basis for illustrating how and theorizing why the community was disserved by its rurality and its whiteness. We suggest that widely held rural associations with the pastoral and bucolic—imaginaries that are at least implicitly white—may have blinded those strategizing the litigation to the place's deep and entrenched poverty and therefore to the residents' vulnerability. Alternatively, the conservation-oriented plaintiffs and attorneys may have viewed these poor white residents as transgressing wilderness—as having trashed pristine nature by their very presence—and thus as unworthy of advocacy. Either way, the plaintiffs did not bolster their conservationist claims with environmental justice advocacy, presumably because of the absence of a clear optical trigger for the latter. Finally, we consider these events through three lenses typically associated with environmental law: conservationist, economic, and social (environmental justice). Finding each of these lacking, we illustrate how the robust and multi-dimensional concept of rurality can synthesize these individual frames while surfacing voices and issues not otherwise heard. Turning a rural lens on these events also reveals socio-spatial obstacles to environmental justice, explaining, for example, why multigenerational residents are unwilling to assert their legal rights. The result is essentially a meta-narrative of rurality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For well over a decade, urban political ecology has been concerned with the neoliberalization of infrastructure as a key site of struggle in the reproduction of urban space. While urban forests, trees, and parks have not featured as prominently in that literature as other resources (e.g., water), they are increasingly managed and promoted as a form of “green” infrastructure by city governments eager to ally themselves with new environmentally-oriented framings of the modern city. Yet, the relationship between these new forms of green infrastructure and the neoliberalization of the city, in particular their ability to enable new ways of taking about the city and nature, and to constrain others, has been understudied. In this paper, I examine the ways in which urban parks are enrolled in political struggles to reorient the techniques of urban governance toward entrepreneurialism as the only viable model for economic development. Through a case study of Philadelphia's Fairmount Park System, I examine a series of events during the previous three decades in which Fairmount Park has become subject to this reorientation toward entrepreneurialism. Specifically, I examine how parks, no longer treated as spaces of “nature”, have been reframed as self-supporting constituents of a business-minded urbanism, promotional tools for the attraction of new labor to the city, and a reinforcement of the notion of entrepreneurialism as the inevitable urban development strategy for the 21st century. Yet, I also argue that these transformations are always in a process of negotiation. Even as parks become subject to these dominating discourses, new park construction is a site in which the conceptual assumptions that underpin neoliberal urban policy aren’t frictionlessly transferred from one instance to another but, even when successful, require significant work to overcome competing visions of urban nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many wilderness areas of East and Southern Africa are foci for Rhodesian sleeping sickness, a fatal zoonotic disease caused by trypanosomes transmitted by tsetse flies. Although transmission in these foci is traditionally driven by wildlife reservoirs, rising human and livestock populations may increase the role of livestock in transmission cycles. Deciphering transmission dynamics at wildlife and livestock interface areas is key to developing appropriate control. Data are lacking for key parameters, including host distributions, tsetse density, and mortality rates, and the relative roles of livestock and wildlife as hosts in fragmented habitats, limiting the development of meaningful models to assist in the assessment and implementation of control strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Basic & Applied Ecology is the property of Urban & Fischer Verlag and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this article we respond to and challenge Jørgensen’s criticisms of the concept of rewilding in her paper ‘Rethinking rewilding’, published this year in Geoforum. Jørgensen argues that ‘rewilding’ has become a ‘plastic word’, one that has been stretched to the point where it lacks definitional precision, at risk of becoming ‘the go-to blanket solution to environmental problems’. She also argues that the practice of rewilding is premised upon the dissociation of humans from the rest of nature and reproduces anti-human Nature–Culture binaries, rightly lambasted by critics of wilderness narratives in conservation practice. In response to these criticisms we challenge Jørgensen on two points. Firstly we argue that the problems of ‘plasticity’ and definitional imprecision can be rectified by highlighting and foregrounding the quality that we believe is at the core of all rewilding definitions and efforts: non-human autonomy. Secondly, we challenge Jørgensen’s broad claim that sees the collapse of ‘rewilding’ into anti-human wilderness management. We do so by reflecting on two points; the dynamic human–non-human entanglements embedded within rewilding practice(s) and by arguing for rewilding as a ‘wild experiment’. We make these points through the examination of two actually existing examples of rewilding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major challenge in the biological monitoring of stream ecosystems in protected wilderness areas is discerning whether temporal changes in community structure are significantly outside of a reference condition that represents natural or acceptable annual variation in population cycles. Otherwise sites could erroneously be classified as impaired. Long-term datasets are essential for understanding these trends, to ascertain whether any changes in community structure significantly beyond the reference condition are permanent shifts or with time move back to within previous limits. To this end, we searched for long-term (>8 years) quantitative data sets of macroinvertebrate communities in wadeable rivers collected by similar methods and time of year in protected wilderness areas with minimal anthropogenic disturbance. Four geographic areas with datasets that met these criteria in the USA were identified, namely: McLaughlin Nature Reserve in California (1 stream), Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennesse-North Carolina (14 streams), Wind River Wilderness Areas in Wyoming (3 streams) and Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska (6 streams). Two statistical approaches were applied: Taxonomic Distinctness (TD) to describe changes in diversity over time and non-metric multidimensional scaling (MDS) to describe changes over time in community persistence (Jaccards Index) and community stability (Bray–Curtis Index). Control charts were used to determine if years in MDS plots were significantly outside a reference condition. For Hunting Creek, TD showed three years outside natural variation which could be attributed to severe hydrological events but years outside the natural-variation funnel at sites in other geographical areas were inconsistent and could not be explained by environmental variables. TD identified simulated severe pollutant events which caused the removal of entire invertebrate assemblages but not simulated water temperature shifts. Within a region, both MDS analyses typically identified similar years as exceeding reference condition variation, illustrating the utility of the approach for identifying wider spatial scale effects that influence more than one stream. MDS responded to both simulated water temperature stress and a pollutant event, and generally outlying years on MDS plots could be explained by environmental variables, particularly higher precipitation. Multivariate control charts successfully identified whether shifts in community structure identified by MDS were significant and whether the shift represented a press disturbance (long-term change) or a pulse disturbance. We consider a combination of TD and MDS with control charts to be a potentially powerful tool for determining years significantly outside of a reference condition variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wilderness protection and restoration has become an important focus for European nature conservation policy. The European Parliament Resolution on wilderness calls for a clear definition of this term, an assessment of what is left of European wildernesses and improved protection strategies, while it also discusses the integration of wilderness protection into the NATURA 2000 network. One key challenge is the provision of accurate maps of wilderness areas to assist efforts aimed at proper protection and integration into landscape planning, notably where they occur as small fragments in intensely used landscapes. In this study, two approaches to GIS-based perceived wilderness mapping were applied to the intensely used Danish landscape to determine where its wildest parts occur. Orthophotos and ground-truthing revealed that areas estimated to have relatively high wildness quality were indeed dominated by relatively isolated natural or semi-natural habitats, e.g. forests, wetlands and dune systems. The spatial distribution of these relatively wild areas was compared to the extents of the existing national parks and the NATURA 2000 system to assess their degree of protection. While national parks and relatively wild areas did not always show high congruence, the NATURA 2000 network overlapped well with wildness areas. As a key finding, GIS-based wilderness mapping can be meaningfully applied to inventorying relatively wild areas in highly anthropogenic landscapes. Hence, GIS-based wilderness mapping should be part of the standard tool kit used in landscape planning to ensure protection of remaining wild areas and to assist the planning of locations for new wildness areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A request for a preparticipation medical evaluation for wilderness watersports may be made by guiding agencies, instructional camps, or by patients presenting for an annual visit. Although guidelines have been published regarding preparticipation physical evaluation for traditional competitive high school and collegiate sports, little has been written about medical evaluations for those wishing to engage in wilderness and adventure watersports. in this article, we offer guidance based on literature review and expert opinion. Watersports are among the most common recreational activities in the United states and are generally safe. Drowning, however, is a significant risk, particularly in small, self-propelled craft, and among children. Medical counseling before participation in watersports should include screening for medical conditions which may impair swimming ability, including a history of seizures, heart disease, and lung disease. Physicians should also promote preventive health measures such as use of lifejackets and sun protection, as well as alcohol avoidance. Swim testing tailored to specific activities should be strongly considered for children and those with questionable swimming ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participation in wilderness and adventure sports is on the rise, and as such, practitioners will see more athletes seeking clearance to participate in these events. The purpose of this article is to describe specific medical conditions that may worsen or present challenges to the athlete in a wilderness environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children, older adults, disabled and special needs athletes, and female athletes who participate in outdoor and wilderness sports and activities each face unique risks. For children and adolescents traveling to high altitude, the preparticipation physical evaluation should focus on risk assessment, prevention strategies, early recognition of altitude-related symptoms, management plans, and appropriate follow-up. As the risk and prevalence of chronic disease increases with age, both older patients and providers need to be aware of disease and medication-specific risks relative to wilderness sport and activity participation. Disabled and special needs athletes benefit from careful pre-event planning for the potential medical issues and equipment modifications that may affect their health in wilderness environments. Issues that demand special consideration for female adventurers include pregnancy, contraceptive use, menses, and ferritin levels at altitude. A careful preparticipation evaluation that factors in unique, population- specific risks will help special populations stay healthy and safe on wilderness adventures. The PubMed and SportDiscus databases were searched in 2014 using both MeSH terms and text words and include peer-reviewed English language articles from 1977 to 2014. Additional information was accessed from Web-based sources to produce this narrative review on preparticipation evaluation for special populations undertaking wilderness adventures. Key words include children, adolescent, pediatric, seniors, elderly, disabled, special needs, female, athlete, preparticipiation examination, wilderness medicine, and sports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients pursue wilderness experiences throughout the entire life cycle, and while outdoor pursuits are relatively safe, injuries do occur. Many of these adverse events can be anticipated, identified, and prevented through a wilderness preparticipation examination (PPE). To accomplish this, it is incumbent on the physician to assess the extrinsic and intrinsic factors faced by the patient and attempt to correct them to ensure an enjoyable experience in the outdoors. This article outlines the goals of the PPE along with identification of various risk factors that can influence a trip. Most injuries and rescues occur from underestimating the risks from extrinsic, environmental factors, and/or overestimating one's intrinsic skills. By matching the patient's fitness and skill level to the environment, the physician can help reduce the risk of serious injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a socioecological systems perspective, we advance a conceptual approach for characterizing trajectories of change in rural forest-based communities. We call attention to “communities in the middle,” communities positioned within forested regions representing neither unpopulated wilderness nor heavily urbanized or densely populated places on the edge of urban areas. In 2010, these middle places accounted for 27.3% of the continental United States landscape yet less than 5% of the human population. Common shocks, such as the decline of traditional production industries, demographic shifts, new information technologies, climate change, invasive species, and demand for new energy resources, unite these areas. Yet, we observe variation in existing patterns of change across communities, which grows out of interactions between local contexts and larger drivers of change. Focusing on community dynamics, structure, and well-being in transitioning rural forested landscapes, we synthesize insights on three commonly identified development trajectories. We identify interactions among the resource base, connectivity to other places, and social adaptability as critical to these trajectories. Further, we describe vulnerabilities, opportunities, contingencies, diversity, novel recombinations, and mitigation as useful concepts for understanding community pathways within these trajectories. This framework provides a starting point to guide further synthesis, formal meta-analyses, and future interdisciplinary research on change in these important ‘middle’ places. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Umbilicaria N and S concentrations correlated with N and S deposition estimates. • Umbilicaria N and S concentrations had high signal-to-noise ratios. • Umbilicaria elemental profile correlated with N and S deposition. • CMAQ deposition related more strongly with Umbilicaria N and S than TDEP deposition. High elevation and arid wilderness areas generally lack epiphytic lichen species used for air quality biomonitoring. We assessed the potential of saxicolous lichens to serve as bioindicators of nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) deposition by examining relationships among deposition, environmental variables, and elemental concentrations in the saxicolous lichens Umbilicaria phaea (n = 51), Rhizoplaca melanophthalma (n = 20), and the epiphytic lichen Letharia vulpina (n = 16) in the southern Sierra Nevada (SN) and San Bernardino Mountains (SBM) of California, USA. Lichen samples were collected between 2013 and 2019 in 31 plots between 180 and 3330 m elevation. These samples were analyzed for concentrations of 23 elements, including N and S. Signal-to-noise ratios were high comparing the variation among plots to within plots and within samples for N and S concentrations of the Umbilicaria phaea samples. While Umbilicaria phaea N and S concentrations were correlated with modeled N and S deposition estimates, Rhizoplaca melanophthalma and Letharia vulpina N and S concentrations were not. Subsequent principal components analysis and cluster analysis of the Umbilicaria phaea dataset revealed differences in elemental profiles between the SN and SBM, with the SBM samples having higher concentrations of most elements, including heavy metals. Additionally, the first two principal components explained most of the variation (61 %) in elemental content and had strong relationships to latitude, longitude, N and S deposition, and precipitation. We conclude that the elemental profile of Umbilicaria could be used to assess N and S deposition for areas in the western USA that lack suitable epiphytic lichen species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wilderness loss is one of the main threats to biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. The post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity proposes "retaining wilderness areas" in the first target of the 21 action-oriented targets for 2030. However, we know little about the spatiotemporal pattern of potential wilderness loss in the future. We conducted the global analysis of projected loss of wilderness area (PLWA) due to land use and land cover change (LUCC) by 2100. This analysis has a spatial resolution of 1 km*1 km and emphasizes the impact of cropland and urban expansion considering multiple SSP-RCP scenarios. We found that a total of 4.6 million km2 of wilderness is susceptible to cropland and urban expansion (1.3 times larger than India) by 2100. Alarmingly, >51 % of PLWA is concentrated in just ten countries, and >23 % of terrestrial protected areas are projected to experience some PLWA. We call for urgent conservation actions to prevent further wilderness loss which is essential to fulfilling the post-2020 global biodiversity conservation goals. • A total of 4.6 million km2 of wilderness might be threatened by cropland and urban expansion at global scale. • Wilderness areas adjacent to areas with high human impact require urgent conservation actions. • More than 23 % of terrestrial protected areas are projected to experience wilderness loss. • A "Warning List of Protected Areas" is created calling for wilderness conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Whitebark pine is declining, primarily from introduced white pine blister rust. • It is proposed for listing as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. • Other high elevation five-needle white pines are in decline from blister rust. • We describe the National Whitebark Pine Restoration Plan and its agency partners. • The plan is a model for developing restoration plans for other 'high five' pines. Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis Engelm.), a high-elevation five-needle white pine (Genus Pinus , Subgenus Strobus), inhabits the higher mountains of western U.S. and Canada, across about 32.6 million ha (about 80.6 million acres), with 70% of its range in the U.S. Whitebark pine, recognized as a keystone and foundation species, is declining nearly range-wide from the introduced pathogen Cronartium ribicola J.C. Fisch., mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) outbreaks, and altered fire regimes driven by climate warming. It is categorized as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, endangered in Canada under the Species at Risk Act, and proposed for listing in the U.S. as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. At risk from the same threats are other high elevation, five-needle white pines, including limber pine (P. flexilis James), southwestern white pine (P. strobiformis Engelm.), foxtail pine (P. balfouriana Balf.), Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine (P. aristata Engelm.), and Great Basin bristlecone pine (P. longaeva D.K. Bailey). Several challenges to devising a restoration plan for whitebark pine include a large range across multiple federal and tribal jurisdictions, limited funding and field personnel to implement restoration, and restrictions on whitebark pine restoration in Wilderness Areas. Here, we describe the development of the National Whitebark Pine Restoration Plan (NWPRP), a conservation strategy for restoring whitebark pine across its U.S. range and across multiple jurisdictions. The plan, conceived by the Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation (WPEF) and American Forests (AF) in consultation with the U.S. Forest Service, is the product of a collaborative interagency partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and tribal governments. The NWPRP is a geographic restoration plan based on priority or "core areas" nominated by land management agencies and tribal governments and includes process and criteria for prioritizing these areas, proposed restoration treatments and conservation actions, estimated costs for these management applications, and a monitoring and adaptive management plan for each type of treatment or management action. AF and the WPEF in collaboration with partners are developing a multi-pronged funding strategy for the NWPRP that includes federal and corporate funding opportunities but also national and global opportunities related to climate and biodiversity goals. The steps in assembling and funding the NWPRP can be used as a blueprint for constructing restoration plans for the other high elevation five-needle white pines, which experience many of the same restoration challenges as whitebark pine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term ‘rewilding’ sounds as if it should have a straightforward meaning ‘to make wild again’. But in truth the term has a complex history and a host of meanings have been ascribed to it. Rewilding as a specific scientific term has its beginnings as a reference to the Wildlands Project, which was founded in 1991 and aimed to create North American core wilderness areas without human activity that would be connected by corridors. Words, however, do not stand still—they change over time and take on new meanings, while sometimes simultaneously retaining the older sense. Employing Foucault’s idea of historical genealogy, this article examines how the term rewilding was historically adopted and modified in ecological scientific discourse over the last two decades. This investigation probes what and, by extension, when and where , rewilding refers to as it has moved into various geographies across the globe. It then examines how the term has moved outside of science and been adopted by environmental activists as a plastic word. Taken as a whole, rewilding discourse seeks to erase human history and involvement with the land and flora and fauna. Such an attempted split between nature and culture may prove unproductive and even harmful. A more inclusive rewilding is a preferable strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]