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Abstract Australia's national environmental legislation, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) has been criticized for failing to mitigate the national extinction crisis. Under the EPBC Act, projects anticipated to have a significant impact on protected matters must be referred to the Australian Government for assessment. Actions deemed unlikely to have a significant impact are granted permission to proceed, while actions expected to have a significant impact must undergo further assessment. We spatially analyzed potential habitat loss deemed either significant or non‐significant in Queensland and New South Wales for threatened species, migratory species, and threatened ecological communities between 2000 and 2015. Impact scores were developed to quantify and compare the value of woody vegetation cleared under each referral determination. We found no statistically significant difference between median impact scores for vegetation removed under significant and non‐significant determinations. Over half (63%) of all scored losses occurred under actions deemed non‐significant, with certain species disproportionately impacted. The tiger quoll (Dasyurus maculatus maculatus) and grey‐headed flying‐fox (Pteropus poliocephalus) lost 82% and 72% of their total referred potential habitat under non‐significant actions, respectively. Our results indicate that the application of the EPBC Act is failing to adequately conserve the protected matters of this investigation.

Cannabinoid CB1 antagonists have been investigated for possible treatment of e.g. obesity-related disorders. However, clinical application was halted due to their symptoms of anxiety and depression. In addition to these adverse effects, we have shown earlier that chronic treatment with the CB1 antagonist rimonabant may induce EEG-confirmed convulsive seizures. In a regulatory repeat-dose toxicity study violent episodes of "muscle spasms" were observed in Wistar rats, daily dosed with the CB1 receptor antagonist SLV326 during 5 months. The aim of the present follow-up study was to investigate whether these violent movements were of an epileptic origin. In selected SLV326-treated and control animals, EEG and behavior were monitored for 24 hours. 25% of SLV326 treated animals showed 1 to 21 EEG-confirmed generalized convulsive seizures, whereas controls were seizure-free. The behavioral seizures were typical for a limbic origin. Moreover, interictal spikes were found in 38% of treated animals. The frequency spectrum of the interictal EEG of the treated rats showed a lower theta peak frequency, as well as lower gamma power compared to the controls. These frequency changes were state-dependent: they were only found during high locomotor activity. It is concluded that long term blockade of the endogenous cannabinoid system can provoke limbic seizures in otherwise healthy rats. Additionally, SLV326 alters the frequency spectrum of the EEG when rats are highly active, suggesting effects on complex behavior and cognition.

This article uses a global model to analyse empirically how the personal and professional development of educators (personal mastery) facilitates the creation of a series of basic shared values (shared vision) and of team learning by the members of the educational centre, these inter-related strategic factors favouring, in turn, educational organizational learning and subsequent improvement in organizational performance. Likewise, verification is made of different learning barriers that hinder the acquisition, dissemination and sharing of knowledge by blocking shared vision and team learning. Using a national survey in educational centres in Spain, we found that these hypotheses are verified and that organizational learning plays a key role in the generation of organizational performance.

Effective conservation management for climate adaptation rests on understanding the factors driving species' vulnerability in a spatially explicit manner so as to direct on-ground action. However, there have been only few attempts to map the spatial distribution of the factors driving vulnerability to climate change. Here we conduct a species-level assessment of climate change vulnerability for a sample of Australia's threatened species and map the distribution of species affected by each factor driving climate change vulnerability across the continent. Almost half of the threatened species assessed were considered vulnerable to the impacts of climate change: amphibians being the most vulnerable group, followed by plants, reptiles, mammals and birds. Species with more restricted distributions were more likely to show high climate change vulnerability than widespread species. The main factors driving climate change vulnerability were low genetic variation, dependence on a particular disturbance regime and reliance on a particular moisture regime or habitat. The geographic distribution of the species impacted by each driver varies markedly across the continent, for example species impacted by low genetic variation are prevalent across the human-dominated south-east of the country, while reliance on particular moisture regimes is prevalent across northern Australia. Our results show that actions to address climate adaptation will need to be spatially appropriate, and that in some regions a complex suite of factors driving climate change vulnerability will need to be addressed. Taxonomic and geographic variation in the factors driving climate change vulnerability highlights an urgent need for a spatial prioritisation of climate adaptation actions for threatened species.

Australia's national environmental legislation, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) has been criticized for failing to mitigate the national extinction crisis. Under the EPBC Act, projects anticipated to have a significant impact on protected matters must be referred to the Australian Government for assessment. Actions deemed unlikely to have a significant impact are granted permission to proceed, while actions expected to have a significant impact must undergo further assessment. We spatially analyzed potential habitat loss deemed either significant or non‐significant in Queensland and New South Wales for threatened species, migratory species, and threatened ecological communities between 2000 and 2015. Impact scores were developed to quantify and compare the value of woody vegetation cleared under each referral determination. We found no statistically significant difference between median impact scores for vegetation removed under significant and non‐significant determinations. Over half (63%) of all scored losses occurred under actions deemed non‐significant, with certain species disproportionately impacted. The tiger quoll (Dasyurus maculatus maculatus) and grey‐headed flying‐fox (Pteropus poliocephalus) lost 82% and 72% of their total referred potential habitat under non‐significant actions, respectively. Our results indicate that the application of the EPBC Act is failing to adequately conserve the protected matters of this investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective environmental legislation that mitigates threats and strengthens protection are critical in arresting the decline of global biodiversity. We used the national listing of an Australian marsupial, the greater glider (Petauroides spp.), vulnerable to extinction under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC), as a case study to evaluate the effectiveness of legislation for protecting threatened species habitat. We quantified the extent of greater glider habitat destroyed (or extensively modified) due to deforestation and logging in Queensland and New South Wales (NSW), and logging in Victoria, 2 years before (2014-2016) and after (2016-2018) EPBC listing. We quantified the extent of greater glider habitat that burned in the 2019-2020 wildfires. Destruction of habitat increased in NSW and Queensland after the species was listed as vulnerable (NSW: 7602 ha/annum c.f. 7945 ha/annum; Qld: 1501 ha/annum c.f. 5919 ha/annum). In Victoria, the amount of habitat logged remained relatively consistent pre- and post-listing (4916.5 ha logged pre-listing c.f. 4758.5 ha logged post-listing). Australia-wide, we estimate that 29% of greater glider habitat burned in the 2019-2020 wildfires. Fire severity was severe or extreme in 37% of greater glider habitat that burnt, suggesting that few gliders would persist in these areas. We demonstrate that since EPBC listing, greater glider habitat destruction and population decline has continued as a result of human activities, both directly (i.e. deforestation and logging) and indirectly (i.e. severe wildfire facilitated by human-induced climate change). We recommend that state and federal protections should be strengthened urgently to better conserve threatened species and the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]