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USGS2001

A framework for ecological decision support systems: Building the right systems and building the systems right

Workshops in the late 1990's launched the commitment of the U.S. Geological Survey's Biological Resources Division (BRD) to develop and implement decision support systems (DSS) applications. One of the primary goals of this framework document is to provide sufficient background and information for Department of the Interior (DOI) bureau stakeholders and other clients to determine the potential for DSS development. Such an understanding can assist them in carrying out effective land planning and management practices. This document provides a definition of DSS and its characteristics and capabilities. It proceeds to describe issues related to meeting resource managers needs, such as the needs for specific applications, customer requirements, information and technology transfer, user support, and institutionalization. Using the decision process as a means to guide DSS development and determine users needs is also discussed. We conclude with information on method to evaluate DSS development efforts and recommended procedures for verification and validation.

Information and Technology Report↗
USGS1998

Geospatial Technology Applications and Infrastructure in the Biological Resources Division

Executive Summary -- Automated spatial processing technology such as geographic information systems (GIS), telemetry, and satellite-based remote sensing are some of the more recent developments in the long history of geographic inquiry. For millennia, humankind has endeavored to map the Earth's surface and identify spatial relationships. But the precision with which we can locate geographic features has increased exponentially with satellite positioning systems. Remote sensing, GIS, thematic mapping, telemetry, and satellite positioning systems such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) are tools that greatly enhance the quality and rapidity of analysis of biological resources. These technologies allow researchers, planners, and managers to more quickly and accurately determine appropriate strategies and actions. Researchers and managers can view information from new and varying perspectives using GIS and remote sensing, and GPS receivers allow the researcher or manager to identify the exact location of interest. These geospatial technologies support the mission of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Biological Resources Division (BRD) and the Strategic Science Plan (BRD 1996) by providing a cost-effective and efficient method for collection, analysis, and display of information. The BRD mission is 'to work with others to provide the scientific understanding and technologies needed to support the sound management and conservation of our Nation's biological resources.' A major responsibility of the BRD is to develop and employ advanced technologies needed to synthesize, analyze, and disseminate biological and ecological information. As the Strategic Science Plan (BRD 1996) states, 'fulfilling this mission depends on effectively balancing the immediate need for information to guide management of biological resources with the need for technical assistance and long-range, strategic information to understand and predict emerging patterns and trends in ecological systems.' Information sharing plays a key role in nearly everything BRD does. The Strategic Science Plan discusses the need to (1) develop tools and standards for information transfer, (2) disseminate information, and (3) facilitate effective use of information. This effort centers around the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) and the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), components of the National Information Infrastructure. The NBII and NSDI are distributed electronic networks of biological and geographical data and information, as well as tools to help users around the world easily find and retrieve the biological and geographical data and information they need. The BRD is responsible for developing scientifically and statistically reliable methods and protocols to assess the status and trends of the Nation's biological resources. Scientists also conduct important inventory and monitoring studies to maintain baseline information on these same resources. Research on those species for which the Department of the Interior (DOI) has trust responsibilities (including endangered species and migratory species) involves laboratory and field studies of individual animals and the environments in which they live. Researchboth tactical and strategicis conducted at the BRD's 17 science centers and 81 field stations, 54 Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units in 40 states, and at 11 former Cooperative Park Study Units. Studies encompass fish, birds, mammals, and plants, as well as their ecosystems and the surrounding landscape. Biological Resources Division researchers use a variety of scientific tools in their endeavors to understand the causes of biological and ecological trends. Research results are used by managers to predict environmental changes and to help them take appropriate measures to manage resources effectively. The BRD Geospatial Technology Program facilitates the collection, analysis, and dissemination of data and informat

Information and Technology Report↗
USGS2002

Research plan for lands administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior in the Interior Columbia Basin and Snake River Plateau

This document presents a long-term research strategy designed to address current and future research needs for management of Department of the Interior-administered ecosystems in the Intermountain West. Although the research plan was developed in the context of the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project, the plan addresses many high-priority issues facing land managers throughout the Intermountain West. These issues pose management challenges that may be addressed with applied research both currently and in upcoming decades. Possessing a particular focus on semiarid ecosystems, the plan is a collection of research questions under five categories of research emphases: 1) restoration; 2) rangeland health; 3) aquatic-terrestrial connections; 4) development of monitoring and evaluation protocols; and 5) species and habitats at risk. The goal of the research strategy is to provide ideas for integrating emerging scientific understanding into future management in order to restore and maintain long-term ecosystem health and ecological integrity; provide consistent management direction over broad spatial and temporal scales; emphasize adaptive management over the long term; restore and maintain habitats for plant and animal species; and support economic and social needs of people, without compromising the above goals. Research questions are prioritized into three categories based on the immediacy of their need, feasibility of addressing the question rigorously under varying funding budgets, and magnitude of risk posed by not addressing the issue. The research strategy is intended to support and integrate with existing management efforts and strategies. As such, it melds observational studies with experimental manipulation, treating management actions as experiments whenever feasible. The research strategy focuses on disturbance processes and events that have been the primary drivers of change, to provide a predictive model for future changes. These drivers include fire, nonnative plants, herbivory, roads and associated human influences, and climate change. Whereas management in the western United States has striven to move from an inefficient species-based approach to a habitat-based approach, the plan focuses on ecosystem function and ecological processes as critical measures of habitat response. Because of the large amount and contiguity of public lands in the western United States, the region presents both a compelling opportunity to implement landscape-level science and a challenge to underst

Information and Technology Report↗
USGS1976

Nature . . . an environmental yardstick

To one who has spent his professional career in geologic science, conservation always has had special meaning. In the measurements so necessary to his work the geologist develops an integrity in the use of numbers and in the qualifications attending the validity of numbers. Scientific analysis of geologic events and sequence develops a keen sense of what is coincidental, correlative, and consequential. The geologist applies his science in evaluating hazards to man as natural catastrophes and/or benefits to man such as earth materials that form the resource base of his society. But more than these the geologist has acquired a deep appreciation for the planet as a whole, its inner structure, its landscape, and the living things that abound.

Information and Technology Report↗
USGS1999

Tracheal worms

Infection by tracheal worms often results in respiratory distress due to their location in the trachea or bronchi and their obstruction of the air passage. Infections by these parasitic nematodes or roundworms in waterbirds, primarily ducks, geese, and swans, are usually due to Cyathostoma bronchialis and infection of land birds are usually due to Syngamus trachea. However, both genera infect a variety of species, including both land and waterbirds. Infections with S. trachea have been more extensively studied than infections with Cyathostoma sp. because of its previous importance as a disease-causing parasite of poultry in many parts of the world. Changes in husbandry practices to modern intensive methods for poultry production have essentially eliminated S. trachea as an agent of disease in chickens, but it is an occasional cause of disease in turkeys raised on range.

Information and Technology Report↗
USGS1999

Eustrongylidosis

Eustrongylidosis is caused by the nematodes or roundworms Eustrongylides tubifex, E. ignotus, and E. excisus. Eustrongylides sp. can cause large die-offs of nestlings in coastal rookeries, especially of egrets and other wading birds.

Information and Technology Report↗
USGS1999

Renal coccidiosis

Renal coccidiosis is caused by protozoal parasites that infect the kidneys and associated tissues. Most of the coccidia that infect the tissues in birds are Eimeria sp. As with most other parasitic infections, this infection is not synonymous with clinical or apparent disease. Asymptomatic infections are far more common than those that are severe and cause mortality.

Information and Technology Report↗
USGS1999

Trichomoniasis

Avian trichomoniasis is caused by a single celled protozoan, Trichomonas gallinae. Avirulent T. gallinae strains that do not cause disease and highly virulent strains are found in nature and circulate within bird populations. The factors that make a strain virulent are not known, but they are thought to be controlled genetically within the parasite. Similarly, the reasons why an avirulent or a virulent form of the parasite is found within a bird population at any period of time also remain unknown. Virulent strains of T. gallinae have caused major mortality events or epizootics in doves and pigeons in addition to less visible, chronic losses (Table 25.1). Infection typically involves the upper digestive tract of doves and pigeons but other species have also been infected (Fig. 25.1).

Information and Technology Report↗
USGS1999

Chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticides

Chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticides (OCs) are diverse synthetic chemicals that belong to several groups, based on chemical structure. DDT is the best known of these insecticides. First synthesized in 1874, DDT remained obscure until its insecticidal properties became known in 1939, a discovery that earned a Nobel Prize in 1948. The means of synthesizing the cyclodiene group, the most toxic of the OCs, was discovered in 1928 and resulted in a Nobel Prize in 1950. The insecticidal properties of cyclodienes, which include aldrin, dieldrin, and endrin (Table 40.1), were discovered about 1945. OCs became widely used in the United States following World War II. Their primary uses included broad spectrum applications for agricultural crops and forestry and, to a lesser extent, human health protection by spraying to destroy mosquitoes and other potential disease carriers. These compounds also became widely used to combat insect carriers of domestic animal diseases.

Information and Technology Report↗
USGS1999

Organophosphorus and carbamate pesticides

The insecticidal properties of organophosphorus (OP) and carbamate compounds were first discovered in the 1930s, and the compounds were developed for pesticide use in the 1940s. They have been used increasingly since the 1970s when environmentally persistent organochlorine pesticides, such as DDT and dieldrin, were banned for use in the United States. Organophosphorus and carbamate pesticides are generally short-lived in the environment (usually lasting only days to months instead of years) and, generally, chemical breakdown is accelerated as temperatures or pH or both increase.

Information and Technology Report↗
USGS1999

Miscellaneous chemical toxins

The previous chapters provide information about some of the chemical toxins that have lethal effects on wild birds. The material presented in Section 7, Chemical Toxins, is far from comprehensive because wild birds are poisoned by a wide variety of toxic substances. Also, monitoring of wild bird mortality is not yet organized so that diagnostic findings can be extended to reflect the relative impacts among the types of toxins, within populations, or among species, geographic areas, and time. The data that are available are not collectively based on random sampling, nor do specimen collection and submission follow methodical assessment methods. Instead, most data simply document individual bird poisoning events. The inherent biases in this information include the species of birds observed dead (large birds in open areas are more likely to be observed dead than small forest birds); the species of birds likely to be submitted for analysis (bald eagles are more likely to be submitted than house sparrows); collection sites (agricultural fields are more likely to be observed than urban environments); geographic area of the country; season; reasons for submissions; and other variables. Nevertheless, findings from individual events reflect the causes of mortality associated with those events and collectively identify chemical toxins that repeatedly cause bird mortalities which result in carcass collection and sub

Information and Technology Report↗
USGS1999

Candidiasis

Candida albicans , a yeast-like fungi, is the primary cause of candidiasis or candidiosis. C. albicans is a normal inhabitant of the human alimentary canal, as well as that of many species of lower animals. Ingestion in food or in water is the usual means for its transmission. Contaminated environments, such as litter from poultry and gamebird rearing facilities, refuse disposal areas, discharge sites for poultry operations, and areas contaminated with human waste have all been suggested as sources for Candidia exposure for birds.

Information and Technology Report↗
USGS1999

Aspergillosis

Aspergillosis is a respiratory tract infection caused by fungi of the genus Aspergillus, of which A. fumigatus is the primary species responsible for infections in wild birds (Fig. 13.1). Aspergillosis is not contagious (it will not spread from bird to bird), and it may be an acute, rapidly fatal disease or a more chronic disease. Both forms of the disease are commonly seen in free-ranging birds, but the acute form is generally responsible for large-scale mortality events in adult birds and for brooder pneumonia in hatching birds. Aspergillus sp. also produce aflatoxins (see Chapter 37, Mycotoxins), but the significance of those toxins in the ability of the fungus to cause disease in birds is unknown.

Information and Technology Report↗
USGS1999

Miscellaneous bacterial diseases

Disease in free-ranging birds is caused by many other pathogenic bacteria in addition to those illustrated within this section. These other diseases are currently considered less important because of their infrequent occurrence, the small numbers of birds generally lost annually, or because they primarily result from infection by opportunistic pathogens and they require concurrent disease processes for them to become apparent. The following brief highlights about the more important of these diseases are included to acquaint readers with their existence and provide some basic information about their ecology.

Information and Technology Report↗
USGS1999

Mycoplasmosis

Mycoplasmosis is caused by infection with a unique group of bacteria that lack cell walls but possess distinctive plasma membranes. Mycoplasma are also the smallest self-replicating life-forms, and they are responsible for a variety of diseases in humans, animals, insects, and plants. These bacteria can cause acute and chronic diseases in hosts that they infect, and they are also implicated with other microbes as causes of disease when the immune system of the host has become impaired through concurrent infection by other disease agents or through other processes. This chapter focuses on mycoplasmal infections of birds, the most significant of which are caused by Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG), M. meleagridis (MM), and M. synoviae (MS). Only MG is of known importance for wild birds.

Information and Technology Report↗
USGS1999

Salmonellosis

Avian salmonellosis is caused by a group of bacteria of the genus salmonella. Approximately 2,300 different strains of salmonellae have been identified, and these are placed into groupings called “serovars” on the basis of their antigens or substances that induce immune response by the host, such as the production of specific antibody to the antigen. Current taxonomic nomenclature considers the 2,300 different serovars to be variants of two species, Salmonella enterica and S. bongori. S. enterica is further subdivided into six subspecies on the basis of biochemical characteristics. This results in complex nomenclature for each serovar, such as, S. enterica subsp. enterica serovar typhimurium. Readers should be aware of this convention for naming salmonellae because they will find this nomenclature in the current scientific literature. In this chapter, different serovars of salmonellae will be referred to by their previous, less complex nomenclature, such as S. typhimurium.

Information and Technology Report↗
USGS1999

Tuberculosis

Avian tuberculosis is usually caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium avium. At least 20 different types of M. avium have been identified, only three of which are known to cause disease in birds. Other types of Mycobacterium rarely cause tuberculosis in most avian species; however, parrots, macaws, and other large perching birds are susceptible to human and bovine types of tuberculosis bacilli. Avian tuberculosis generally is transmitted by direct contact with infected birds, ingestion of contaminated feed and water, or contact with a contaminated environment. Inhalation of the bacterium can cause respiratory tract infections. Wild bird studies in the Netherlands disclosed tuberculosis-infected puncture-type injuries in birds of prey that fight at the nest site (kestrels) or on the ground (buteo-type buzzards), but tuberculosisinfected injuries were not found in accipiters (falco

Information and Technology Report↗
USGS1999

Avian cholera

Avian cholera is a contagious disease resulting from infection by the bacterium Pasteurella multocida. Several subspecies of bacteria have been proposed for P. multocida, and at least 16 different P. multocida serotypes or characteristics of antigens in bacterial cells that differentiate bacterial variants from each other have been recognized. The serotypes are further differentiated by other methods, including DNA fingerprinting. These evaluations are useful for studying the ecology of avian cholera (Fig. 7.1), because different serotypes are generally found in poultry and free-ranging migratory birds. These evaluations also show that different P. multocida serotypes are found in wild birds in the eastern United States than those that are found in the birds in the rest of the Nation (Fig. 7.2).

Information and Technology Report↗