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The structure of stakeholder networks impacts the ability for environmental governance to fulfil core functions: share information; agree on problem framing and actions; and resolve conflict. Managing pest and disease incursions presents particular challenges. Rapid coordination of action is needed in times of crisis, but any hope of success during crisis requires a foundation of ongoing communication and surveillance. Recent Australian strategic planning for marine biosecurity identified the critical role of an independent national marine pest network in providing ongoing communication. We surveyed stakeholders in the existing marine pest network to map how they share information. Constructing a multilevel, directed network, with 304 organizations and 12 policy forums, we applied statistical network theory to identify which subnetwork configuration patterns were present more or less than by chance. We mapped configurations against how they shape the network's propensity for information sharing. What we found was a marine pest network with a predisposition for bridging; evidence of hubs for both provision and receiving of information; and organizations reporting greater levels of information provision to others compared to receiving information. Our assessment is that the network is well structured for top-down information provision, but that a more sustainable network will require attention to building two-way communication particularly with community groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rangelands encompass 30-40% of Earth's land surface and support 1 to 2 billion people. Their predominant use is extensive livestock production by pastoralists and ranchers. But rangelands are characterized by ecological, economic, and political marginality, and higher value, more intensive land uses are impinging on rangelands around the world. Earth Stewardship of rangelands must address both livestock management and the broader socioecological dynamics that promote land-use changes, fragmentation, and degradation. We identify specific gradients on which human-rangeland systems can be arrayed, including issues of variability, adaptation to disturbance, commercialization, land-use change, land-tenure security, and effective governance, and we illustrate the gradients' interactions and effects in sites worldwide. The result is a synthetic framework to help in understanding how rangeland Earth Stewardship can be achieved in the face of marginality, globalization, and climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study that analyzes the impact of sample size on the numerical estimates of stomach contents of Retropinna semoni (R. semoni) zooplanktivorous freshwater fish in Australia. It notes that the research collected 50 R. semoni from Lake Benanee over a diel period and that it used bootstrapping to produce confidence intervals around sample means. Its findings showed that the sample fish stomach content followed a pattern suggestive of diurnal feeding.

AbstractThis study aimed to examine the range of external export barriers that three Australian agri-food sectors, i.e., red meat, horticulture, and aquaculture, encounter, and to empirically measure and compare the perceived severity of these barriers by producers across the three sectors. A computer-assisted telephone interviewing survey was conducted to assess producers’ perception of individual export barriers. The results suggest that highly ranked export barriers for the three sectors are: high labor costs, market and financial risks, a lack of provenance information for competitiveness, and production risks. Some variations in the rated severity of barriers were observed across the three sectors and between producers who were currently exporting and those who were not, suggesting that non-exporters may consider the barriers different from exporters. While some barriers can be addressed through cross-sector planning, others require the development of sector specific strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vicuña provide an excellent case study for examining the sustainable use of wildlife outside protected areas: the community-based conservation approach. Vicuña populations in the high Andes of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Perú fell to a critically low level, but a Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) ban on trade in their fiber has seen numbers recover dramatically, and now live shearing of vicuña for a high-value international market is being promoted as a mechanism to secure both sustainable vicuña populations and local livelihoods. We used a dynamic optimization model to explore the consequences of legalizing markets, including the consequences for poaching which is critical in vicuña dynamics. Using parameters obtained from the literature and expert knowledge, we explored different scenarios for the Argentine region of Cieneguillas. Our results showed that the role of the international market is ambiguous; live shearing for an international market can provide the very best of outcomes for both vicuña and local people, with large herds generating high revenues. But an international market also creates a market for poached vicuña fiber; as a result, vicuña numbers risk once again falling to critically low levels, resulting also in minimal revenues from sale of fiber. The message for the international community is that if community-based conservation is not implemented carefully then its impact can easily be perverse.