K'ima:w Medical Center

ABSTRACT Invasive species disrupt biological communities, but lethal control of invaders often meets staunch resistance, posing a conundrum for policymakers. For instance, the human‐mediated spread of barred owls from eastern to western North America threatens numerous native species—including the iconic and listed spotted owl—spurring intense debate about whether to lethally control this charismatic but invasive species. A recent US Fish and Wildlife Service strategy, in particular, has drawn strong criticism based on untested claims that barred owl control is unscalable and doomed to failure. Contrary to such claims, we conducted successful lethal controls across >50,000 km 2 in California, removing 3373 barred owls—around one third of the state's current population. Critically, monitoring revealed that removals stabilized spotted owl populations and halted the establishment of barred owls. Our work provides direct support for the federal strategy to address this pressing issue and highlights general strategies to maximize conservation while minimizing invader killing.

The article represents the results for investigation of a new technology of complex soil consolidation and stabilization and reuse of the material from stripping of the existing roads (cold recycling technology) with portlandcement and enzyme agent Roadzyme (USA), which allows reducing the energy costs significantly and improving ecological situation. Cold recycling has a number of significant advantages before other means of reconstruction. The absence of environmental pollution is due to the complete use of the material of the old pavement. There is no need in disposal sites, and the volume of the new delivered materials is the minimum one and reduces the area of contamination, which is certain during opening of new borrow-pits and rock quarries. Transportation is very small, therefore the consumption of the energy is considerably reduced, as well as devastating impact of vehicles on the road network. Effect of the use of the agent “Roadzyme” is based on the activation of physics and chemical processes, which increase the strength, water resistance and frost resistance of the consolidated soils and materials, reducing material consumption at provision of the required elasticity modulus for pavement structure due to reduction of the thickness for pavement layers, the use of local materials and saving of binders and inert materials. The decrease is noted for the stiffness of the materials, strengthened by complex method (binder with the agent “Roadzyme”), compared to the treatment only with the binder, which allows forecasting the increase of the crack resistance.

ABSTRACTWildlife agencies are generally tasked with managing and conserving species at state and local levels simultaneously. Thus, it is necessary for wildlife agencies to understand basic ecological processes of a given species at multiple scales to aid decision making at commensurately varied spatial and behavioral scales. Mountain lions (Puma concolor) occur throughout California, USA, and are at the center of a variety of management and conservation issues. For example, they are genetically and demographically at risk in 1 region yet apparently stable and negatively affecting endangered species in another. Currently, no formal plan exists for mountain lions in California to deal with these diverse scenarios involving issues of local mountain lion population viability and problems related to predation of endangered species. To facilitate development of a state‐wide management and conservation plan, we quantified habitat selection by mountain lions at 2 spatial scales across the range of environmental conditions in which the species is found in California. Our analyses used location data from individuals (n = 263) collared across the state from 2001–2019. At the home range scale, mountain lions selected habitat to prioritize meeting energetic demands. At the within home range scale, mountain lions avoided areas of human activity. Further, our analyses revealed 165,350–170,085 km2, depending on season, of suitable mountain lion habitat in California. Fifty percent of the suitable habitat was on unprotected lands and thus vulnerable to development. These habitat selection models will help in the development of a state‐wide conservation and management plan for mountain lions in California by guiding mountain lion population monitoring through time, prioritization of habitat to be conserved for maintaining demographic connectivity and gene flow, and efforts to mediate mountain lion‐prey interactions. Our work and application area will help with wildlife policy and management decisions related to depredation problems at the local scale and issues of habitat connectivity at the statewide scale. © 2019 The Wildlife Society.