In this chapter we give an overview of the changing social perceptions of society's relations... more In this chapter we give an overview of the changing social perceptions of society's relationship with natural resources. We begin in a medieval setting, and while this is essentially an arbitrary starting point, it does highlight the long-held belief in an external influence being responsible for the creation and maintenance of all elements of the natural world. At that point in time, religious thought viewed society as external to a non-human natural world; a position of theism was maintained. In contrast, this review ends at a time of an increasingly secular and utilitarian society, a time in which the dominant view of the natural world is communicated using the economic language of commodification and monetisation. The process of social change is presented as discrete and simplistic steps; however, history does not exist as a series of themed events conveniently grouped in time and space. With thoughts of the natural world in mind, boundaries between paradigms should be seen ...
Living in urban environments can leave people disconnected from nature and less likely to engage ... more Living in urban environments can leave people disconnected from nature and less likely to engage with biodiversity conservation. Within urban areas, residential gardens can occupy large proportions of greenspace and provide important habitat for biodiversity. Understanding the views and knowledge of garden owners who have collective responsibility for managing these areas is therefore important. We aimed to understand how urban garden owners understand biodiversity. We surveyed garden owners in Derby, UK, across 20 census output areas spanning a socioeconomic spectrum. Residents were asked to explain their understanding of ‘biodiversity’ in a short definition format. Responses were classified using thematic and word frequency analyses. Of 255 respondents, approximately one-third were unable to provide a definition. Themes that emerged in frequency order were as follows: variety of species or environments, coexistence of organisms, conservation of nature, a synonym for habitat and un...
Using time-lapse photography in a laboratory setting, we exposed Anodonta anatina and Unio pictor... more Using time-lapse photography in a laboratory setting, we exposed Anodonta anatina and Unio pictorum for 4 h to algal (Chlorella vulgaris) concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 20.0 mg ash-free dry mass l−1 and to three different temperatures (11 ± 1, 15 ± 1 and 19 ± 1 °C). We analysed the proportion of mussels in locomotion, duration of locomotory activities, posterior tip movement and valve opening behaviour. The proportion of mussels in locomotion was significantly higher for A. anatina and for A. anatina was significantly lower at 11 °C. For both species, the proportion of mussels in locomotion, the duration of locomotion and movement of the posterior tip decreased with increasing algal concentration. The locomotory duration was significantly shorter in U. pictorum. In both species, valve opening peaked at intermediate algal concentrations, with the deviation from the peak being more prominent in A. anatina. Finally, we recorded a contrasting locomotory strategy for the two species ...
Using GPS telemetry to validate least-cost modeling of gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) movem... more Using GPS telemetry to validate least-cost modeling of gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) movement within a
This paper presents an ecological and socioeconomic case for the reintroduction of the Gray whale... more This paper presents an ecological and socioeconomic case for the reintroduction of the Gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) to the North Atlantic from the harvestable surplus in the eastern north Pacific. The Gray whale population in the eastern North Atlantic was hunted to extinction in the 17th century. A similar fate almost befell the eastern north Pacific population; however this population has demonstrated a dramatic recovery. European and UK legislation state objectives to ’protect and conserve the ecosystems and the biological diversity of the maritime area, and to restore, where practicable, marine areas which have been adversely affected’. In addition, this reintroduction has broad public support. In a questionnaire based survey 90% of respondents were in favour of Gray whale restoration, compared to only 56% for both grey wolf and brown bear. Successful reestablishment will contribute to the redevelopment of deprived coastal communities through sustainable ecotourism; 81% of...
A hypothetico-deductive approach to assessing the social function of chemical signalling in a non... more A hypothetico-deductive approach to assessing the social function of chemical signalling in a non-territorial solitary carnivore
Essays investigating the idea of natural heritage and the ways in which it has changed over time.... more Essays investigating the idea of natural heritage and the ways in which it has changed over time. The concepts of nature, culture and heritage are deeply entwined; their threads run together in some of our finest museums, in accounts of exploration and discovery, in the work of artists, poets and writers, and in areas that are cherished and protected because of their landscapes and wildlife. The conservation ethic - placing a value on the natural environment - lies at the heart of the notion of "natural heritage", but we need to question how those values originated, were consolidated and ultimately moulded and changed over time. In a contemporary context the connections between nature and culture have sometimes become lost, fragmented, dislocated or misunderstood; where did "natural heritage" begin and how do we engage with the idea of "nature" today? The essays collected here re-evaluate the role of culture in developing the concept of natural heritage, reflecting on the shifts in its interpretation over the last 300 years. Contributors: Martin Holdgate, Marie Addyman, E. Charles Nelson, Darrell Smith, Andrew Ramsey, Viktor Kouloumpis, Richard Milner, Gina Douglas, Penny Bradshaw, Arthur MacGregor, Chiara Nepi, Hannah Paddon, Stephen Hewitt, Gordon McGregor Reid, Ghillean T Prance, Peter Davis, Christopher Donaldson, Lucy McRobert, Sophie Darlington, Keith Scholey, Paul A. Roncken, Angus Lunn, Juliet Clutton-Brock, Tim Sands, Robert A. Lambert, James Champion, Erwin van Maanen, Heather Prince, Chris Loynes, Julie Taylor, Sarah Elmeligi, Samantha Finn, Owen Nevin, Jared Bowers, Kate Hennessy, Natasha Lyons, Mike Jeffries.
Brown bear (Ursus arctos) populations have experienced declines in both number and range due to c... more Brown bear (Ursus arctos) populations have experienced declines in both number and range due to changes in land use and persecution. Identifying and protecting areas with adequate gene flow between populations is now of fundamental importance to the survival of some populations. This study assessed genetic variance and relatedness between individuals from two coastal regions of British Columbia. Samples were analysed at 8 microsatellite loci to determine individual genotypes for statistical analysis. The mean expected heterozygosity (He) of all individuals was 0.69. A difference in He was highlighted between genders, with females displaying homozygosity for 2 out of 8 loci. Genetic differentiation was low (FST = 0.06) between coastal individuals. Dispersal distances of bears in the area would suggest the possibility of gene flow between the two regions. Genetic distance estimates, through kinship coefficients and the proportion of shared alleles, further reiterated a link between th...
Understanding the role of the landscape matrix in species dispersal is important when targeting c... more Understanding the role of the landscape matrix in species dispersal is important when targeting conservation and management strategies. This Research Note shows how least-cost modelling was used to assess invasive grey squirrel Sciurus carolinensis dispersal movements within the UK, with a focus on the county of Cumbria. Two major networks were identified separated by the Cumbrian Mountain range. This indicated that there may be multiple colonisation routes into the county. These findings were supported by evidence from DNA sequencing of seven grey squirrel populations. Least-cost model predictions were further validated through data from five global positioning system (GPS) collared grey squirrels. Buffered least-cost path analysis and the development of a least-cost corridor model enabled the most likely grey squirrel dispersal routes to be identified and validated using GPS data. To provide information on movements and land cover use, the individual movements of each squirrel wer...
In this chapter we give an overview of the changing social perceptions of society's relations... more In this chapter we give an overview of the changing social perceptions of society's relationship with natural resources. We begin in a medieval setting, and while this is essentially an arbitrary starting point, it does highlight the long-held belief in an external influence being responsible for the creation and maintenance of all elements of the natural world. At that point in time, religious thought viewed society as external to a non-human natural world; a position of theism was maintained. In contrast, this review ends at a time of an increasingly secular and utilitarian society, a time in which the dominant view of the natural world is communicated using the economic language of commodification and monetisation. The process of social change is presented as discrete and simplistic steps; however, history does not exist as a series of themed events conveniently grouped in time and space. With thoughts of the natural world in mind, boundaries between paradigms should be seen ...
Although the effects on biodiversity in woodland managed for conservation have been studied for a... more Although the effects on biodiversity in woodland managed for conservation have been studied for a range of species, there is very little empirical data on the potential impacts of commercial woodland management on biodiversity in the UK. This study measured species richness and abundance of diurnal butterflies as a proxy for the habitat quality of three different woodland management techniques in the Morecambe Bay limestone woodland region. Butterflies were sampled at two sites; Gait Barrows and Witherslack, where three woodland management techniques were carried out: low management woodland (woodland with no recent intervention); traditional coppice management for conservation; and commercial woodland management. Both coppice management for conservation and commercial management had significantly higher butterfly species richness and abundance when compared to low management woodland; neither butterfly species richness nor abundance were significantly different between the traditio...
In this chapter we give an overview of the changing social perceptions of society's relations... more In this chapter we give an overview of the changing social perceptions of society's relationship with natural resources. We begin in a medieval setting, and while this is essentially an arbitrary starting point, it does highlight the long-held belief in an external influence being responsible for the creation and maintenance of all elements of the natural world. At that point in time, religious thought viewed society as external to a non-human natural world; a position of theism was maintained. In contrast, this review ends at a time of an increasingly secular and utilitarian society, a time in which the dominant view of the natural world is communicated using the economic language of commodification and monetisation. The process of social change is presented as discrete and simplistic steps; however, history does not exist as a series of themed events conveniently grouped in time and space. With thoughts of the natural world in mind, boundaries between paradigms should be seen ...
Living in urban environments can leave people disconnected from nature and less likely to engage ... more Living in urban environments can leave people disconnected from nature and less likely to engage with biodiversity conservation. Within urban areas, residential gardens can occupy large proportions of greenspace and provide important habitat for biodiversity. Understanding the views and knowledge of garden owners who have collective responsibility for managing these areas is therefore important. We aimed to understand how urban garden owners understand biodiversity. We surveyed garden owners in Derby, UK, across 20 census output areas spanning a socioeconomic spectrum. Residents were asked to explain their understanding of ‘biodiversity’ in a short definition format. Responses were classified using thematic and word frequency analyses. Of 255 respondents, approximately one-third were unable to provide a definition. Themes that emerged in frequency order were as follows: variety of species or environments, coexistence of organisms, conservation of nature, a synonym for habitat and un...
Using time-lapse photography in a laboratory setting, we exposed Anodonta anatina and Unio pictor... more Using time-lapse photography in a laboratory setting, we exposed Anodonta anatina and Unio pictorum for 4 h to algal (Chlorella vulgaris) concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 20.0 mg ash-free dry mass l−1 and to three different temperatures (11 ± 1, 15 ± 1 and 19 ± 1 °C). We analysed the proportion of mussels in locomotion, duration of locomotory activities, posterior tip movement and valve opening behaviour. The proportion of mussels in locomotion was significantly higher for A. anatina and for A. anatina was significantly lower at 11 °C. For both species, the proportion of mussels in locomotion, the duration of locomotion and movement of the posterior tip decreased with increasing algal concentration. The locomotory duration was significantly shorter in U. pictorum. In both species, valve opening peaked at intermediate algal concentrations, with the deviation from the peak being more prominent in A. anatina. Finally, we recorded a contrasting locomotory strategy for the two species ...
Using GPS telemetry to validate least-cost modeling of gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) movem... more Using GPS telemetry to validate least-cost modeling of gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) movement within a
This paper presents an ecological and socioeconomic case for the reintroduction of the Gray whale... more This paper presents an ecological and socioeconomic case for the reintroduction of the Gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) to the North Atlantic from the harvestable surplus in the eastern north Pacific. The Gray whale population in the eastern North Atlantic was hunted to extinction in the 17th century. A similar fate almost befell the eastern north Pacific population; however this population has demonstrated a dramatic recovery. European and UK legislation state objectives to ’protect and conserve the ecosystems and the biological diversity of the maritime area, and to restore, where practicable, marine areas which have been adversely affected’. In addition, this reintroduction has broad public support. In a questionnaire based survey 90% of respondents were in favour of Gray whale restoration, compared to only 56% for both grey wolf and brown bear. Successful reestablishment will contribute to the redevelopment of deprived coastal communities through sustainable ecotourism; 81% of...
A hypothetico-deductive approach to assessing the social function of chemical signalling in a non... more A hypothetico-deductive approach to assessing the social function of chemical signalling in a non-territorial solitary carnivore
Essays investigating the idea of natural heritage and the ways in which it has changed over time.... more Essays investigating the idea of natural heritage and the ways in which it has changed over time. The concepts of nature, culture and heritage are deeply entwined; their threads run together in some of our finest museums, in accounts of exploration and discovery, in the work of artists, poets and writers, and in areas that are cherished and protected because of their landscapes and wildlife. The conservation ethic - placing a value on the natural environment - lies at the heart of the notion of "natural heritage", but we need to question how those values originated, were consolidated and ultimately moulded and changed over time. In a contemporary context the connections between nature and culture have sometimes become lost, fragmented, dislocated or misunderstood; where did "natural heritage" begin and how do we engage with the idea of "nature" today? The essays collected here re-evaluate the role of culture in developing the concept of natural heritage, reflecting on the shifts in its interpretation over the last 300 years. Contributors: Martin Holdgate, Marie Addyman, E. Charles Nelson, Darrell Smith, Andrew Ramsey, Viktor Kouloumpis, Richard Milner, Gina Douglas, Penny Bradshaw, Arthur MacGregor, Chiara Nepi, Hannah Paddon, Stephen Hewitt, Gordon McGregor Reid, Ghillean T Prance, Peter Davis, Christopher Donaldson, Lucy McRobert, Sophie Darlington, Keith Scholey, Paul A. Roncken, Angus Lunn, Juliet Clutton-Brock, Tim Sands, Robert A. Lambert, James Champion, Erwin van Maanen, Heather Prince, Chris Loynes, Julie Taylor, Sarah Elmeligi, Samantha Finn, Owen Nevin, Jared Bowers, Kate Hennessy, Natasha Lyons, Mike Jeffries.
Brown bear (Ursus arctos) populations have experienced declines in both number and range due to c... more Brown bear (Ursus arctos) populations have experienced declines in both number and range due to changes in land use and persecution. Identifying and protecting areas with adequate gene flow between populations is now of fundamental importance to the survival of some populations. This study assessed genetic variance and relatedness between individuals from two coastal regions of British Columbia. Samples were analysed at 8 microsatellite loci to determine individual genotypes for statistical analysis. The mean expected heterozygosity (He) of all individuals was 0.69. A difference in He was highlighted between genders, with females displaying homozygosity for 2 out of 8 loci. Genetic differentiation was low (FST = 0.06) between coastal individuals. Dispersal distances of bears in the area would suggest the possibility of gene flow between the two regions. Genetic distance estimates, through kinship coefficients and the proportion of shared alleles, further reiterated a link between th...
Understanding the role of the landscape matrix in species dispersal is important when targeting c... more Understanding the role of the landscape matrix in species dispersal is important when targeting conservation and management strategies. This Research Note shows how least-cost modelling was used to assess invasive grey squirrel Sciurus carolinensis dispersal movements within the UK, with a focus on the county of Cumbria. Two major networks were identified separated by the Cumbrian Mountain range. This indicated that there may be multiple colonisation routes into the county. These findings were supported by evidence from DNA sequencing of seven grey squirrel populations. Least-cost model predictions were further validated through data from five global positioning system (GPS) collared grey squirrels. Buffered least-cost path analysis and the development of a least-cost corridor model enabled the most likely grey squirrel dispersal routes to be identified and validated using GPS data. To provide information on movements and land cover use, the individual movements of each squirrel wer...
In this chapter we give an overview of the changing social perceptions of society's relations... more In this chapter we give an overview of the changing social perceptions of society's relationship with natural resources. We begin in a medieval setting, and while this is essentially an arbitrary starting point, it does highlight the long-held belief in an external influence being responsible for the creation and maintenance of all elements of the natural world. At that point in time, religious thought viewed society as external to a non-human natural world; a position of theism was maintained. In contrast, this review ends at a time of an increasingly secular and utilitarian society, a time in which the dominant view of the natural world is communicated using the economic language of commodification and monetisation. The process of social change is presented as discrete and simplistic steps; however, history does not exist as a series of themed events conveniently grouped in time and space. With thoughts of the natural world in mind, boundaries between paradigms should be seen ...
Although the effects on biodiversity in woodland managed for conservation have been studied for a... more Although the effects on biodiversity in woodland managed for conservation have been studied for a range of species, there is very little empirical data on the potential impacts of commercial woodland management on biodiversity in the UK. This study measured species richness and abundance of diurnal butterflies as a proxy for the habitat quality of three different woodland management techniques in the Morecambe Bay limestone woodland region. Butterflies were sampled at two sites; Gait Barrows and Witherslack, where three woodland management techniques were carried out: low management woodland (woodland with no recent intervention); traditional coppice management for conservation; and commercial woodland management. Both coppice management for conservation and commercial management had significantly higher butterfly species richness and abundance when compared to low management woodland; neither butterfly species richness nor abundance were significantly different between the traditio...
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