1. Pursuant to 40 CFR 51.309(d)(3), the WRAP directs its Technical Oversight Committee (TOC) to track emissions and to describe the tracking process in such a way that can be included in state and tribal implementation plans. At a minimum, using the most recent state emission inventories available, the TOC should produce a report for each five-year implementation plan revision on the current an...

This paper describes using a decision corridor approach to improve the exercise of strategic judgment under conditions of uncertainty. The method is a composite of concepts and tools principally borrowed from three analytical families futures, transition management and strategic management While the approach as used does not challenge current business concepts or radically contribute to their r...

Natural habitats adjacent to human-modified areas often suffer edge effects stemming from physical disturbance, elevated predator densities, or invasive species. Although seldom documented, detrimental edge effects can also occur at natural ecological boundaries. Here I examine the spatial pattern and ecological effects of a biological invasion at well-delineated and abrupt edges between ripari...

There are three species of Neotropical cats whose northernmost distribution reaches the USA-Mexico border region: the jaguar Panthera onca, ocelot Leopardus pardalis and jaguarundi Herpailurus yagouaroundi. To ensure the long-term viability of Neotropical cat populations in this region it is imperative to identify current distribution and status in the northern limits of their range to conserve...

Soil quality is critical to the management of urban green space, in particular, along traffic corridors where traffic-related air pollution is significant. Soil quality can be evaluated by soil enzyme activities, which show quick responses to both natural and anthropogenic disturbances. In this study, we investigated three soil enzyme activities (i.e., dehydrogenase, catalase and urease) along ...

Negative effects of habitat fragmentation are well-known phenomena in ecology, and the use of corridors is one suggested remedy to ameliorate community disassembly. Most experiments of landscape structure, however, do not consider matrix quality and environmental conditions, despite their potential to affect both landscape permeability and population densities. For the first time in fragmented ...

Connectivity of animal populations is an increasingly prominent concern in fragmented landscapes, yet existing methodological and conceptual approaches implicitly assume the presence of, or need for, discrete corridors. We tested this assumption by developing a flexible conceptual approach that does not assume, but allows for, the presence of discrete movement corridors. We quantified functiona...

Understanding the patterns of gene flow of an endangered species metapopulation occupying a fragmented habitat is crucial for landscape-level conservation planning and devising effective conservation strategies. Tigers (Panthera tigris) are globally endangered and their populations are highly fragmented and exist in a few isolated metapopulations across their range. We used multi-locus genotypi...

We explored the role of conservation biology in the planning of a natural-heritage system that includes long, wide conservation corridors situated primarily on private lands, and established to connect natural core areas in the Oak Ridges Moraine of Ontario, Canada. We based our review on government documents, semi-structured interviews with participants involved in this land-use planning proce...