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Identifying the primary controls of particulate (POM) and mineral‐associated organic matter (MAOM) content in soils is critical for determining future stocks of soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) across the globe. However, drivers of these soil organic matter fractions are likely to vary among ecosystems in response to climate, soil type and the composition of local biological communities.We tested how soil factors, climate and plant–fungal associations influenced the distribution and concentrations of C and N in MAOM and POM in seven temperate forests in the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) across the eastern United States. Samples of upper mineral horizon soil within each forest were collected in plots representing a gradient of dominant tree–mycorrhizal association, allowing us to test how plant and microbial communities influenced POM and MAOM across sites differing in climate and soil conditions.We found that concentrations of C and N in soil organic matter were primarily driven by soil mineralogy, but the relative abundance of MAOM versus POM C was strongly linked to plot‐level mycorrhizal dominance. Furthermore, the effect of dominant tree mycorrhizal type on the distribution of N among POM and MAOM fractions was sensitive to local climate: in cooler sites, an increasing proportion of ectomycorrhizal‐associated trees was associated with lower proportions of N in MAOM, but in warmer sites, we found the reverse. As an indicator of soil carbon age, we measured radiocarbon in the MAOM fraction but found that within and across sites, Δ14C was unrelated to mycorrhizal dominance, climate, or soil factors, suggesting that additional site‐specific factors may be primary determinants of long‐term SOM persistence.Synthesis. Our results indicate that while soil mineralogy primarily controls SOM C and N concentrations, the distribution of SOM among density fractions depends on the composition of vegetation and microbial communities, with these effects varying across sites with distinct climates. We also suggest that within biomes, the age of mineral‐associated soil carbon is not clearly linked to the factors that control concentrations of MAOM C and N. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil fungi link above‐ and belowground carbon (C) fluxes through their interactions with plants and contribute to C and nutrient dynamics through the production, turnover, and activity of fungal hyphae. Despite their importance to ecosystem processes, estimates of hyphal production and turnover rates are relatively uncommon, especially in temperate hardwood forests. We sequentially harvested hyphal ingrowth bags to quantify the rates of Dikarya (Ascomycota and Basidiomycota) hyphal production and turnover in three hardwood forests in the Midwestern United States, where plots differed in their abundance of arbuscular (AM)‐ vs. ectomycorrhizal (ECM)‐associated trees. Hyphal production rates increased linearly with the percentage of ECM trees and annual production rates were 66% higher in ECM‐ than AM‐dominated plots. Hyphal turnover rates did not differ across the mycorrhizal gradient (plots varying in their abundance of AM vs. ECM trees), suggesting that the greater fungal biomass in ECM‐dominated plots relates to greater fungal production rather than slower fungal turnover. Differences in hyphal production across the gradient aligned with distinctly different fungal communities and activities. As ECM trees increased in dominance, fungi inside ingrowth bags produced more extracellular enzymes involved in degrading nitrogen (N)‐bearing relative to C‐bearing compounds, suggesting greater fungal (and possibly plant) N demand in ECM‐dominated soils. Collectively, our results demonstrate that shifts in temperate tree species composition that result in changes in the dominant type of mycorrhizal association may have strong impacts on Dikarya hyphal production, fungal community composition and extracellular enzyme activity, with important consequences for soil C and N cycling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Volatile nitrogen oxides (N2O, NO, NO2, HONO, ...) can negatively impact climate, air quality, and human health. Using soils collected from temperate forests across the eastern United States, we show microbial communities involved in nitrogen (N) cycling are structured, in large part, by the composition of overstory trees, leading to predictable N‐cycling syndromes, with consequences for emissions of volatile nitrogen oxides to air. Trees associating with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi promote soil microbial communities with higher N‐cycle potential and activity, relative to microbial communities in soils dominated by trees associating with ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi. Metagenomic analysis and gene expression studies reveal a 5 and 3.5 times greater estimated N‐cycle gene and transcript copy numbers, respectively, in AM relative to ECM soil. Furthermore, we observe a 60% linear decrease in volatile reactive nitrogen gas flux (NOy ≡ NO, NO2, HONO) as ECM tree abundance increases. Compared to oxic conditions, gas flux potential of N2O and NO increase significantly under anoxic conditions for AM soil (30‐ and 120‐fold increase), but not ECM soil—likely owing to small concentrations of available substrate (NO3‐) in ECM soil. Linear mixed effects modeling shows that ECM tree abundance, microbial process rates, and geographic location are primarily responsible for variation in peak potential NOy flux. Given that nearly all tree species associate with either AM or ECM fungi, our results indicate that the consequences of tree species shifts associated with global change may have predictable consequences for soil N cycling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While forest communities are changing as a result of global environmental change, the impacts of tree species shifts on ecosystem services such as carbon storage are poorly quantified. In many parts of the eastern United States (US), more xeric‐adapted oak‐hickory dominated stands are being replaced with mesic beech‐maple assemblages. To examine the possible impacts of this ongoing change in forest composition, we investigated how two wide‐ranging and co‐occurring eastern US species – Acer saccharum (sugar maple) and Quercus alba (white oak) – respond to interannual climate variability. Using 781 tree cores from 418 individual trees at 18 locations, we found late‐growing season drought reduced A. saccharum growth more than that of Q. alba. A gradient in the growth reduction across latitude was also found in A. saccharum, where southern populations of A. saccharum experienced greater reductions in growth during drought. Drought had a legacy effect on growth for both species, with drought occurring later in the growing season having a larger legacy effect. Consequently, as forests shift from oak to maple dominance, drought in the later part of the growing season is likely to become an increasingly important control on forest productivity. Thus, our findings suggest that co‐occurring species are responding to environmental conditions during different times in the growing season and, therefore, the timing of drought conditions will play an important role in forest productivity and carbon sequestration as forest species composition changes. These findings are particularly important because the projected increases in potential evapotranspiration, combined with possible changes in the seasonality of precipitation could have a substantial impact on how tree growth responds to future climatic change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most research on dynamics and impacts of plant invasions has evaluated patterns and effects over brief time periods (i.e. <4 years). As such, little is known about the persistence of invasions and their long-term impacts on native species., To experimentally evaluate longer-term effects of invasions, we established field plots with native tree and herbaceous species and then invaded half of the plots with the most widespread invasive grass in the eastern United States ( Microstegium vimineum). Over 8 years, we quantified invader and native plant biomass, native plant diversity, and tree density and size., Microstegium was dominant during the first 4 years of the experiment, constituting more than 60% of herbaceous plant biomass in the plots, and native herbaceous biomass was 57% lower and diversity was 44% lower in invaded vs. control plots. However, both Microstegium and herbaceous native species declined in later years. By the end of the experiment, Microstegium was only 2% of community biomass, and there was no difference in native herbaceous biomass in invaded and control plots., We applied a fire treatment in years 6 and 7 to test if repeated disturbance is required to maintain invader dominance and to evaluate how this common management practice in eastern US forests affected invasive and native plants. Tree density was 65% lower and tree diameters were 28-51% smaller on average in fire-treated compared with control quadrants, resulting in significantly greater light availability in fire-treated areas. Consequently, Microstegium and native herbaceous species biomass increased significantly where fire was applied. However, only native species were persistent, and after 8 years, Microstegium was nearly absent, regardless of the fire treatment., Synthesis. The invasive grass was initially abundant and suppressed native species, but invader decline over time corresponded with succession to native herbaceous species dominance when fire was applied, and to native tree dominance without fire such that after 8 years, the initial effects of invasion were no longer apparent. Thus, our data provide some of the first experimental evidence that while the initial effects of plant invasions can be dramatic, invaders and their impacts may decline over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Center for Educational Statistics, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Education, compiles statistical data for U.S. schools. As charts indicate, in 2001, it reported that nationwide, 76% of high-income graduates immediately enroll in colleges or trade schools. However, only 49% of Hispanic and 59% of African Americans enroll immediately after graduating from high school. Research demonstrates that high academic achievers from low-income families are only one-fifth as likely to enroll in college as high achievers from high-income families (U.S. Department of Education, Center for Educational Statistics, 2001). This article is an examination of the components of a college prep program, GEAR-UP, which is a federally funded comprehensive intervention program to determine if African American participants improved predictors of achievement (PSAT, SAT, and GPA scores). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the recent wave of demutualizations in the U.S. life insurance industry and analyze if the motives were similar for mutual life insurers that fully demutualized versus those that converted to mutual holding company (MHC) form. We find that fully demutualizing insurers were primarily motivated by a desire to gain access to external capital markets while those that chose MHC were motivated by other incentives including a tax-based incentive. We also document that after conversion, fully demutualizing insurers more aggressively increase their exposure to risks they have a comparative advantage to bear than do firms that convert to MHC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the aftermath of 9/11, debates about Islam and the West have taken some unprompted historical turns. In Europe and America many people who have spoken out, either as or for Muslims, have appealed to histories of Islam. Ordinary anti-war activists, public intellectuals, museum and gallery curators, even captains of industry: all have spoken of Islamic civilisation and empires of the past. These everyday representations of empires speak to postcolonial and cultural debates about the form and significance of contemporary colonial discourse, and also to controversies in academic and school history about memories of empires and languages of imperialism. Representations of the Islamic past are both reactive and pro-active. First, they can be read as interventions against the colonial present: contesting Islamophobic ideology in the context of the war on terror by rejecting allegations that Islam is careless about liberty and human rights, primitive and uncivilised. This interpretation is qualified, however , with the acknowledgement that these histories are not consistently anti-imperial; they can better be described as anti-western. But, more pro-actively, these histories also advance positive ideals of tolerance and citizenship, using Andalucía to substantiate claims that Muslims did not simply or grudgingly conform to European ideals of tolerance and liberty; they pioneered these values. Moreover , these historical claims are brought to contemporary debates about how to make tolerance work, identifying points of contact between British values and Islamic histories, and showing how Muslims can imagine not only adopting, but actively shaping British citizenship and other forms of belonging in Europe and America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to analyze the US Supreme Court's March 30, 2010 decision in Jones v. Harris Associates, LP concerning the evaluation of investment advisory fees under Section 36(b) of the Investment Company Act of 1940. Design/methodology/approach -- The paper lays out the background of Section 36(b), the Second Circuit's 1982 decision in Gartenberg v. Merrill Lynch, and the plaintiff's allegation in the Jones case; discusses differences of opinion among the circuit courts on the fiduciary duty standard in Section 36(b); and explains the Supreme Court's reaffirmation of the Gartenberg standard, including a review of Section 36(b) on advisers' fiduciary duty, the role of comparative fees in the Section 36(b) calculus, the role of independent directors, and the dangers associated with judicial review of a board's decision regarding advisory fees. Findings -- The Court concluded its opinion by once more endorsing the principles articulated in Gartenberg. Originality/value -- The paper provides practical guidance from experienced securities lawyers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhanced levels of microbial biomass and activity in the thizosphere arise from labile C released from roots but the factors that mediate such "rhizosphere effects" are poorly understood. We hypothesized that the magnitude of rhizosphere effects would be reduced by increases in soil fertility, consistent with plant C allocation theory, which predicts decreased C flux to roots in fertile soils. Replicate plots of sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marshall) and northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.) at the Turkey Hill Plantations, New York, and yellow birch (Betula allenghaniensis Britton) at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, New Hampshire, were fertilized from 2001 to 2003. In fall of 2003, rhizosphere and bulk soils were sampled from the organic horizon of control and fertilized plots and analyzed for microbial biomass and nutrient transformation rates. In general, fertilization reduced microbial biomass and activity in plots of all three species, and the magnitude of such effects was generally greater in rhizosphere than in bulk soil. In red oak soils, fertilization reduced rhizosphere effects on microbial biomass, net N mineralization rates, and phosphatase enzyme activity (P = 0.026, 0.091, and 0.061, respectively). In contrast, fertilization only reduced rhizosphere effects on microbial biomass in sugar maple soils (P = 0.019). In yellow birch soils, fertilization decreased rhizosphere effects on microbial biomass (P = 0.015). These results suggest that soil fertility may mediate the degree to which roots affect microbial activity in forest soils, possibly due to fertilizer-induced shifts in belowground C supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Several states have implemented mandatory public reporting of outcomes of cardiac revascularization procedures. Washington is the first to develop a nonmandatory, physician-led reporting program with public accountability and universal hospital participation. The purpose of this study was to determine whether quality improvement interventions resulted in the correction of data deficiencies and performance outliers for cardiac revascularization procedures. Methods: From 1999 through 2003, there were 18 hospitals with coronary bypass surgery and interventional cardiology programs and 12 with only the latter. All patients ≥18 years undergoing 24372 isolated coronary bypass surgeries and 59656 percutaneous coronary interventions were included. After 1999 to 2001 data were analyzed in early 2002, the Clinical Outcomes Assessment Program implemented a 6-step quality-improvement intervention to measure and remeasure data quality, process compliance, and performance. Results: In 2003, 4 of the 18 surgery programs had 1 statistical outlier with respect to 4 performance measures, whereas 2 of 30 coronary intervention programs were mortality outliers. For bypass surgery, all programs maintained full compliance with program standards by adhering to timely and reliable submission of data, developing plans to address performance outliers, and demonstrating that outlier status did not persist from baseline to remeasurement. For coronary interventions, 1 program was a persistent outlier for mortality in 2002 and 2003. Conclusions: The Clinical Outcomes Assessment Program has successfully monitored cardiac care patterns in Washington State over a 5-year period. Most hospitals that perform coronary revascularization procedures meet acceptable performance standards. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Presents a study that examined the retention times of radiotransmitters attached to Rio Grande wild turkey poults in the U.S. Background on the wild turkey; Assessment of the retention rates of radiotransmitters; Influence of the study site on the retention times of radiotransmitters.

Presents a study that examined cooperative breeding in trios of brown skuas at Bird Island in southern Georgia. Background on cooperative breeding; Analysis of the incidence and composition of brown skuas on the island; Examination of the breeding characteristics of the brown skuas.

Focuses on the changing rating standards and the buildup of capital of U.S. property-liability insurers. Study of corporate bond ratings; Increase of rating stringency; Accessibility on the detailed information on the financial condition of insurers.

In this article, the authors analyze the derivatives holdings of U.S. insurers to empirically investigate the general hypotheses developed in the financial literature to explain why widely held, value-maximizing firms engage in risk management. The authors also develop a new hypothesis suggesting that although measures of risk and illiquidity will be positively associated with an insurer's decision to engage in risk management, these same measures of risk will be negatively related to the volume of hedging for the ' , set of firms who choose to hedge using derivatives. The authors' analysis provides considerable support for general hypotheses about hedging by value-maximizing firms. The authors also find support for the hypothesis that, conditional on having risk exposures large enough to warrant participation, firms with a larger appetite for risk will engage in less hedging than firms with lower risk tolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increased risk from natural disasters in the United States has prompted innovations in alternative forms of risk transfer and financing. Among the mechanisms that have been developed are Special Purpose Reinsurance Vehicles (SPRVs) designed to hold and segregate funds supporting a risk securitization. SPRVs have been principally formed outside the United States for tax and regulatory reasons. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and the states are considering proposed model legislation that will facilitate the formation of SPRVs in the United States. Proponents also will be seeking federal tax legislation that will facilitate onshore securitization. This article examines important economic and tax issues involved with onshore SPRVs. The authors conclude that properly regulated onshore securitization vehicles could aid the diversification of high-layer catastrophe risks and other risks with similar characteristics. The proposed tax changes may create a modest inequity between special purpose vehicles and traditional reinsurers, depending on one's perspective. However, if governed by an appropriate tax and regulatory framework, onshore securitization used for appropriate purposes should benefit consumers and not erode the demand for conventional reinsurance for the types of risks it is best suited to manage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on an empirical investigation of a hypothesis for improving the safety performance of commuter air carriers. One approach to this problem is to investigate determinants of the accident rate or commuter air carriers. Determinants that reduce these rates would be identified as targets for policy actions designed to improve the safety performance of commuter air carriers. A problem with this approach is that aggregated data must be used. hence, detailed data of individual aircraft accidents are lost in aggregation. Another approach to this problem, where individual accident data can be used, is to investigate determinants of probability that an accident having occurred will be that of a commuter air carrier.

The article provides information on a geographic knowledge survey commissioned by the National Geographical Society and conducted by Gallup to revitalize geography education in the U.S. Interviews were conducted among nationally representative samples of adults and eight comparison countries, with an overall total of 10,000 respondents. The Gallup survey examined a wide variety of general geographic knowledge, with questions and topics ranging from the ozone layer to deforestation and immigration. The survey also examined cartographic skills, with questions of scale, direction and map-reading. There are at least two alternative responses to the finding that many people do not know fact or cannot do task z. The other is to ask what they do know, what their images of the world are like. In order to examine mental geographic images on their own terms, it is first necessary to acknowledge that they are nor merely imperfect copies of cartographic images where differences between mental and cartographic images constitute errors in the former. cognitive psychology has provided theories of mental representation, and research methods capable of examining such representations, that have proved useful and workable in market research. Similarly, geographic knowledge research stands to be enriched by concepts of mental representation provided by cognitive psychology or applied environmental psychology.

Discusses the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and its effects to class actions on securities fraud in the United States. Exploitation of litigation system by class action lawyers; Account of the legislative history of the act; Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act as the vehicle for securities fraud class actions.

Focuses on the Section 15 (c)(4) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 in the United States. Historical background on the operation date of the act; Elements necessary for the issuance of a section order; Power of the Securities Exchange Commission to institute Section 15 proceeding.

Focuses on the deregulation of corporations under the Investment Company Act of 1940 in the United States. Reduction in the number of exemptive applications; Revision of Securities Act disclosure requirements for money market funds; Emphasis on the corporate accountability requirements of the 1940 Act.

Presents a transcript of the panel discussion on the distribution of restricted securities in the United States. Issue on the exemption of the sale of stock from registration; Relationship of the issuer and offerees and among investors; Limitations on the use of Rule 144.

Relates the author's experience on a vocational rehabilitation training at Consolidated Industries of Greater Syracuse in New York. Role of rehabilitation on learning skills; Methods implemented by Bristol line; Impact of the experience on career priorities of author.

Forests around the world are experiencing changes due to climate variability and human land use. How these changes interact and influence the vulnerability of forests are not well understood. In the eastern United States, well-documented anthropogenic disturbances and land-use decisions, such as logging and fire suppression, have influenced forest species assemblages, leading to a demographic shift from forests dominated by xeric species to those dominated by mesic species. Contemporarily, the climate has changed and is expected to continue to warm and produce higher evaporative demand, imposing stronger drought stress on forest communities. Here, we use an extensive network of tree-ring records from common hardwood species across ~100 sites and ~1300 trees in the eastern United States to examine the magnitude of growth response to both wet and dry climate extremes. We find that growth reductions during drought exceed the positive growth response to pluvials. Mesic species such as Liriodendron tulipifera and Acer saccharum, which are becoming more dominant, are more sensitive to drought than more xeric species, such as oaks (Quercus) and hickory (Carya), especially at moderate and extreme drought intensities. Although more extreme droughts produce a larger annual growth reduction, mild droughts resulted in the largest cumulative growth decreases due to their higher frequency. When using global climate model projections, all scenarios show drought frequency increasing substantially (3-9 times more likely) by 2100. Thus, the ongoing demographic shift toward more mesic species in the eastern United States combined with drier conditions results in larger drought-induced growth declines, suggesting that drought will have an even larger impact on aboveground carbon uptake in the future in the eastern United States., (© 2024 The Author(s). Global Change Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Plant-fungal symbioses play critical roles in vegetation dynamics and nutrient cycling, modulating the impacts of global changes on ecosystem functioning. Here, we used forest inventory data consisting of more than 3 million trees to develop a spatially resolved "mycorrhizal tree map" of the contiguous United States. We show that abundances of the two dominant mycorrhizal tree groups-arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) and ectomycorrhizal trees-are associated primarily with climate. Further, we show that anthropogenic influences, primarily nitrogen (N) deposition and fire suppression, in concert with climate change, have increased AM tree dominance during the past three decades in the eastern United States. Given that most AM-dominated forests in this region are underlain by soils with high N availability, our results suggest that the increasing abundance of AM trees has the potential to induce nutrient acceleration, with critical consequences for forest productivity, ecosystem carbon and nutrient retention, and feedbacks to climate change.

The HESI-coordinated RISK21 roadmap and matrix are tools that provide a transparent method to compare exposure and toxicity information and assess whether additional refinement is required to obtain the necessary precision level for a decision regarding safety. A case study of the use of a pyrethroid, "pseudomethrin," in bed netting to control malaria is presented to demonstrate the application of the roadmap and matrix. The evaluation began with a problem formulation step. The first assessment utilized existing information pertaining to the use and the class of chemistry. At each stage of the step-wise approach, the precision of the toxicity and exposure estimates were refined as necessary by obtaining key data which enabled a decision on safety to be made efficiently and with confidence. The evaluation demonstrated the concept of using existing information within the RISK21 matrix to drive the generation of additional data using a value-of-information approach. The use of the matrix highlighted whether exposure or toxicity required further investigation and emphasized the need to address the default uncertainty factor of 100 at the highest tier of the evaluation. It also showed how new methodology such as the use of in vitro studies and assays could be used to answer the specific questions which arise through the use of the matrix. The matrix also serves as a useful means to communicate progress to stakeholders during an assessment of chemical use.

Given that forests represent the primary terrestrial sink for atmospheric CO2 , projections of future carbon (C) storage hinge on forest responses to climate variation. Models of gross primary production (GPP) responses to water stress are commonly based on remotely sensed changes in canopy 'greenness' (e.g., normalized difference vegetation index; NDVI). However, many forests have low spectral sensitivity to water stress (SSWS) - defined here as drought-induced decline in GPP without a change in greenness. Current satellite-derived estimates of GPP use a vapor pressure deficit (VPD) scalar to account for the low SWSS of forests, but fail to capture their responses to water stress. Our objectives were to characterize differences in SSWS among forested and nonforested ecosystems, and to develop an improved framework for predicting the impacts of water stress on GPP in forests with low SSWS. First, we paired two independent drought indices with NDVI data for the conterminous US from 2000 to 2011, and examined the relationship between water stress and NDVI. We found that forests had lower SSWS than nonforests regardless of drought index or duration. We then compared satellite-derived estimates of GPP with eddy-covariance observations of GPP in two deciduous broadleaf forests with low SSWS: the Missouri Ozark (MO) and Morgan Monroe State Forest (MMSF) AmeriFlux sites. Model estimates of GPP that used VPD scalars were poorly correlated with observations of GPP at MO (r(2) = 0.09) and MMSF (r(2) = 0.38). When we included the NDVI responses to water stress of adjacent ecosystems with high SSWS into a model based solely on temperature and greenness, we substantially improved predictions of GPP at MO (r(2) = 0.83) and for a severe drought year at the MMSF (r(2) = 0.82). Collectively, our results suggest that large-scale estimates of GPP that capture variation in SSWS among ecosystems could improve predictions of C uptake by forests under drought., (© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The Health and Environmental Sciences Institute (HESI)-coordinated Risk Assessment in the 21st Century (RISK21) project was initiated to develop a scientific, transparent, and efficient approach to the evolving world of human health risk assessment, and involved over 120 participants from 12 countries, 15 government institutions, 20 universities, 2 non-governmental organizations, and 12 corporations. This paper provides a brief overview of the tiered RISK21 framework called the roadmap and risk visualization matrix, and articulates the core principles derived by RISK21 participants that guided its development. Subsequent papers describe the roadmap and matrix in greater detail. RISK21 principles include focusing on problem formulation, utilizing existing information, starting with exposure assessment (rather than toxicity), and using a tiered process for data development. Bringing estimates of exposure and toxicity together on a two-dimensional matrix provides a clear rendition of human safety and risk. The value of the roadmap is its capacity to chronicle the stepwise acquisition of scientific information and display it in a clear and concise fashion. Furthermore, the tiered approach and transparent display of information will contribute to greater efficiencies by calling for data only as needed (enough precision to make a decision), thus conserving animals and other resources.