Schoodic Institute

Abstract Managing climate‐change refugia is a commonly recommended strategy for conserving biodiversity. However, few efforts have moved beyond the modeling phase of refugia science to management. Here, we present two case studies that move beyond modeling to testing models and management. In the first case study, we model refugia for two plant species (three‐toothed cinquefoil [ Sibbaldia tridentata ] and black crowberry [ Empetrum nigrum ]) in Acadia National Park, Maine, United States, and use greenhouse experiments, common‐garden experiments, and participatory science to evaluate the output of those models. Our results suggest that three‐toothed cinquefoil growth and survival are reduced under increased temperatures as models predict. However, other variables (e.g., soil moisture and salinity) might also be important to modeling and managing refugia for both species. National Park Service staff and partners have been directing restoration for both species to refugia, but are also exploring other adaptation strategies. In the second case study, we demonstrate that existing prioritization processes for habitat restoration in national parks of the northeastern United States rarely incorporate refugia for two indicator species: Jefferson salamander ( Ambystoma jeffersonianum ) and grasshopper sparrow ( Ammodramus savannarum ). Our work demonstrates that moving beyond modeling can improve models and lead to new management insights.

Abstract Prior to the 21st Century Cures Act, enrollment in Medicare Advantage (MA) by people with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) was only allowed in limited circumstances. Enrollment in MA by those with ESRD has grown by over 70 percent since the Cures Act, but little is known about the effects of this policy change on those with ESRD and the organizations involved, such as MA plans and dialysis providers. This study, part of a larger mixed methods study on this topic, used qualitative methods to explore access to health care and other services by those with ESRD after enrollment in MA. We conducted 48 interviews with representatives from MA plans, dialysis organizations, and kidney care management companies and qualitatively analyzed these to identify key themes. Participants reported that MA enrollment has impacted patient access to dialysis, health care providers, transplant services, and supplementary benefits. Participants reported that the use of home dialysis modalities had possibly increased, that patients sometimes neglected to consider reduced access to other providers, especially specialists, when selecting MA, and that network restrictions on transplant centers may be affecting patients’ ability to receive transplants. Finally, while some touted the benefits of vision and dental coverage for this population, others reported limited coverage and networks resulting in patients being unable to utilize these benefits. These results suggest that older adults with ESRD may need additional information and resources to ensure their insurance decisions don’t affect their access to needed health care, services, and preferred providers.

Abstract Invasive plants threaten natural areas, yet Acadia National Park, Maine, USA has been successful in managing invasive plant populations for over three decades. However, rapid environmental change and increasing pressure from encroaching invasive plants may adversely affect the success of ongoing management. This article presents an overview of invasive plant management in Acadia National Park, highlighting lessons learned in over 30 years of active management. Acadia provides a valuable case study for other protected areas, sharing many features with protected areas globally. We offer recommendations for protected area managers in the face of rapid environmental change. Deliberate and continuous management actions by park resource staff starting in the late 1980s and expanding in the mid‐2000s have resulted in extremely low incidence of invasion within Acadia. This success has resulted from effort centred around a science‐based and adaptive approach to management, early detection, and rapid response. Strong partnerships have ensured the continuation of this work. Park staff continue to reduce invasive species populations to <1% cover, monitor managed areas to track treatment success, and re‐treat upon reinvasion. However, total eradication is rare and continued management of new and re‐invasions is expensive and challenging. Maintaining effective invasive plant management is likely to become more difficult as climate change interacts with other stressors in protected areas. Synthesis and applications: Responding to these changes requires articulating desired and realistic future conditions for resources in protected areas, then using actions such as invasive plant removal and native plant revegetation to achieve goals. Long‐term management through a flexible experimental approach is critical to successful invasive plant management. Both Western and Indigenous science are needed to inform responses to the multiple and interacting global change stressors, and management is needed to advance scientific understanding of ecosystem and species responses to change.

Abstract Human bone fragments were discovered during archaeological monitoring of earth moving on Manassas National Battlefield Park in Virginia. Later mitigation recovered bones in situ—two skeletons and seven amputated limbs. Interdisciplinary research affords an unusually detailed level of interpretation, including identification of the remains as Union soldiers wounded during the Battle of Second Manassas (28–30 August 1862). The reconstructed narrative includes military and personal markers of identity, as well as causes of death and injury, and establishes a window from 1 to 6 September 1862 when the pit was dug. Records of Union surgeons make future personal identification of the amputated limbs possible and confirm the pit’s location as a key treatment center after Second Manassas, a battle that marked an inflection point for combat military medicine by highlighting the urgent need for improved systematic recovery and treatment of the wounded.

Droughts interact with tree phenology to drive declines in growth. As climate change makes drought more likely in the Northeastern USA, it is important to understand how droughts at different times of year will lead to reduced height and diameter growth of trees. To determine how seasonal drought may reduce intra-annual growth, we implemented spring, summer or fall droughts on 288 containerized saplings of six tree species (Acer rubrum, Betula papyrifera, Prunus serotina, Juniperus virginiana, Pinus strobus and Thuja occidentalis). We tracked weekly soil moisture, leaf water potential, height, diameter and survival of all trees before, during and after each 6-week drought. We found that the tree species that conducted the majority of their height or diameter growth in the spring were most sensitive to spring droughts (B. papyrifera and Pi. strobus). Thuja occidentalis also experienced significantly reduced growth from the spring drought but increased growth after the drought ended and achieved total height and diameter growth similar to controls. In contrast, summer droughts halted growth in most species for the remainder of the growing season even after the drought had ended. Fall droughts never impacted growth in the current year. These fine temporal-scale measurements of height and diameter growth suggest that tree response varies among species and is dynamic at intra-annual scales. These relatively rare data on intra-annual height growth sensitivity are important for canopy recruitment of saplings in forest ecosystems. Species-specific sensitivities of intra-annual growth to drought can inform models of forest competition in a changing climate.

Abstract Earth is experiencing widespread ecological transformation in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems that is attributable to directional environmental changes, especially intensifying climate change. To better steward ecosystems facing unprecedented and lasting change, a new management paradigm is forming, supported by a decision-oriented framework that presents three distinct management choices: resist, accept, or direct the ecological trajectory. To make these choices strategically, managers seek to understand the nature of the transformation that could occur if change is accepted while identifying opportunities to intervene to resist or direct change. In this article, we seek to inspire a research agenda for transformation science that is focused on ecological and social science and based on five central questions that align with the resist–accept–direct (RAD) framework. Development of transformation science is needed to apply the RAD framework and support natural resource management and conservation on our rapidly changing planet.

Abstract Climate‐driven shifts in phenology, which are being observed worldwide, affect ecosystem services, trophic interactions, and community composition, presenting challenges to managers in protected areas. Resource management benefits from local, species‐specific phenology information. However, phenology monitoring programs in heterogeneous landscapes typically require serendipitous historical records or many years of contemporary data before trends in phenological responses to changes in climate can be analyzed. Here, we used a trails‐as‐transects approach to rapidly accumulate monitoring data across environmental gradients on three mountains in Acadia National Park, Maine, USA, and compared our results to phenological changes observed in Concord, Massachusetts, USA. In four years of intensive monitoring of transects on three mountains, we found large variability in spring temperatures across the mountains, but consistent patterns of advancing flower and leaf phenology in warmer microclimates. Reduced sampling intensity would have yielded similar results, but a shorter duration would not have revealed these patterns. The plants in Acadia responded to warming spring temperatures by shifting leaf and flower phenology in the same direction (earlier), but at a reduced rate (as measured in d/°C), in comparison with plants in southern New England (e.g., Concord, Massachusetts, USA). Our approach takes advantage of topographical complexity and associated microclimate gradients to substitute for long time series, allowing for rapid assessment of phenological response to climate. Other climate gradients (e.g., urban‐to‐rural, latitudinal, or coastal‐to‐inland) could work similarly. This intensive monitoring over a short time period quickly builds a robust dataset and can inform management decisions regarding future monitoring strategies, including sampling designs for citizen science‐based phenology monitoring programs.

Climate-driven changes in phenology are substantially affecting ecological relationships and ecosystem processes. The role of variation among species has received particular attention; for example, variation among species' phenological responses to climate can disrupt trophic interactions and can influence plant performance. Variation within species in phenological responses to climate, however, has received much less attention, despite its potential role in ecological interactions and local adaptation to climate change. We constructed three common gardens across an elevation gradient on Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park, Maine, to test population-level responses in leaf-out phenology in a reciprocal transplant experiment. The experiment included three native species: low bush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium), sheep's laurel (Kalmia angustifolia), and three-toothed cinquefoil (Sibbaldiopsis tridentata). Evidence for local adaptation of phenological response to temperature varied among the species, but was weak for all three. Rather, variation in phenological response to temperature appeared to be driven by local microclimate at each garden site and year-to-year variation in temperature. Population-level adaptations in leaf-out phenology appear to be relatively unimportant for these species in Acadia National Park, perhaps a reflection of strong genetic mixing across elevations, or weak differences in selection on phenological response to spring temperatures at different elevations. These results concur with other observational data in Acadia and highlight the utility of experimental approaches to understand the importance of annual and local site variation in affecting phenology both among and within plant species.

Chemical and biological agents effects tissues and organs which cause poisoning, disease, and deterioration. Chemical or biological weapons show significant threats to humankind. Therefore, many studies have presented approaches for protection from biological and chemical agents. There are various types of defence equipments to protect a body from those agents such as developed detectors, protective clothing materials, functional decontaminants, and others. A number of studies have reported about protective clothing against chemical and biological agents, because many of them are dermally active. New protective clothing materials (comfortable, adsorptive, light-weight) combined with active detoxifying/decontaminating nanomaterials have been produced recently. Electrospinning is one of the simplest and most versatile methods to fabricate nanofibers with high surface areas. Electrospun polymeric nanofibers were used as a protective barrier on the textile fabrics. Attempts have been made to incorporate nanoparticles, nanotubes and antimicrobials into electrospun fibers to enhance their functionality. In this contribution, a selection of studies about the use of electrospun nanofibers for protective clothing against chemical and biological agents is summarized.

Abstract While disturbances such as fire, cutting, and grazing can be an important part of the conservation of natural lands, some adjustments to management designed to mimic natural disturbance may be necessary with ongoing and projected climate change. Stressed vegetation that is incapable of regeneration will be difficult to maintain if adults are experiencing mortality, and/or if their early life‐history stages depend on disturbance. A variety of active management strategies employing disturbance are suggested, including resisting, accommodating, or directing vegetation change by manipulating management intensity and frequency. Particularly if land‐use change is the main cause of vegetation stress, amelioration of these problems using management may help vegetation resist change (e.g. strategic timing of water release if a water control structure is available). Managers could direct succession by using management to push vegetation toward a new state. Despite the historical effects of management, some vegetation change will not be controllable as climates shift, and managers may have to accept some of these changes. Nevertheless, proactive measures may help managers achieve important conservation goals in the future.